Inconveniences
by passionbubbletea
Summary: Lightning Farron hasn't had the best life- with parents gone, taking care of her younger siblings Vaan and Serah, and managing her job as a lawyer. On top of that, a certain stripper who calls himself the 'Dragon' has already placed a big interest in her and refuses to give up.
1. Kain Highwind's Life as a Stripper

Chapter One: _Kain Highwind's Life as a Stripper (written by the lovely Fai)_

Lightning Farron's eye twitched for the last time as a certain stripper unbuckled his pants, undid the button and slowly zipped the zipper (though according to the other females in the bar, it was painstakingly slow). He then moved his hips and the leather pants smoothly fell down his legs, which he then tossed toward Lightning (which coincidentally landed on her head). That was the last straw. She had the shirt with her along with the pants and she could practically feel the envious stares emanating from the other women in the bar. Lightning looked around; Tifa could not hold her laughter and Serah was doing the exact same, albeit covering her mouth with her perfectly manicured hand.

And in that exact moment, the stripper bent down, put on hand on the top of the chair Lightning sat on and leaned in to Lightning's ear. "Happy birthday, gorgeous." He whispered. With that said he stood up and continued to dance around her.

Lightning gripped the hand rest tightly, making the wood bend by just a little bit and she could hear a small part of it crack. Lightning was a lot stronger than she looked and that was a fact. He danced so close to her that she could practically feel _every_ part of him. '_Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God…_' A blush surfaced and Lightning wished that this would end _now_. _'Shit!' _Lightning screamed in her mind. '_Get me out of here!_' she thought. It was there Tifa signaled towards the stripper that he was to go on break and he soon left the stage.

As soon as he left, Tifa stepped on the stage and grabbed her microphone. "Ladies, that was 'The Dragon'! Let's give him a round of applause for his performance!" she said. Tifa smiled, "I am now pleased to present the musical styling of Ten Guns!" The band began to set up and Tifa winked at Cloud, who was setting up his drums- as to which he smiled at her. She got off the state, but not before leaving the microphone and the stand in the center of the stage.

Lightning quickly felt relieved as soon as the torturous movement of "The Dragon" stopped. However, that feeling left quickly when he leaned on her side to pick up his clothes from the floor next to her. As he was leaving, Lightning stood up and walked over to the table that Serah sat at. Lightning kicked the table close to 'The Dragon' as she passed; making the glasses shatter onto the black tiles and one shard had managed to scratch his arm, causing him to bleed just a bit. 'The Dragon' however, looked simply at Lightning, then back down at his arm. He said nothing but his eyes said it all when he looked down at her. He looked away and walked towards the back dressing rooms.

"Light, what the hell are you doing? You just cost me hundreds of dollars of equipment and on top of that, you injured 'The Dragon'! He's scheduled for another show later on!" Tifa berated the pink haired woman. Tifa crossed her arms in frustration and began tapping her black heels on the shiny black tiles. "I know!" she spoke up suddenly after a moment or two. She had just hatched a brilliant idea and she knew she was not going to regret it at all. "You owe me four hundred dollars or so. But, instead of simply paying me, you'll work for it. No, don't give me that look. You'll be working here for a month. No excuses, or else I _will_ sue you for damages done to my property."

'_Shit! If she sues me I could lose my hard earned reputation! Worst birthday ever!_' thought Lightning. "Fine! I'll do whatever you want!" Lightning replied, annoyed. '_It just isn't my day! First Serah drags me to the bar for my birthday and then she tells me to dress up. It'll be fun, she said. It'll be great, she said. It'll be something really entertaining, she said. Ugh… what a lie…_'

* * *

"Come on Light, go get dressed! We're going to your birthday party!" Serah called out from outside her sister's room. Serah was dressed in a kimono like dress that had different shades of pink, red and purple. The dress reached her knees and was one of the girls' favorite dresses. A red and light purple thick purple belt was placed around her thin waist. Serah quickly opened the door to Lightning's room, entered it and closed it just as quickly. She raided Lightning's closet and picked out the one dress that she knew that Lightning wouldn't mind wearing. She shoved it into Lightning's hands. "You better wear that! Hurry up, okay? We don't want to be late!" She said and quickly left the room, closing the door behind her. Lightning sighed, knowing that there was nothing that she could do to talk her sister out of it. She looked at the dress. She did love it. It was simple and looked like her usual clothing, but the material was soft and the dress was lovely in its own subtle way.

Lightning changed into the dress and once she had it on, she immediately looked in the mirror. Lightning never admitted it to anyone, but she loved how dresses really flattered her figure. She looked gorgeous and she knew it. "Lightning, you are absolutely gorgeous." She whispered. Once she was finished making herself presentable, the doorbell rang and another sigh escaped her lips. She left her room and entered the living room. As she walked over, Serah had already called out saying that she will get the door.

All the while Vaan complained once he saw Lightning step out of her room. He had gotten off the black leather couch and came up to her. "Aw come on, Light! It's not fair! How come I can't come to your birthday party? I can make myself presentable! Come on, please?" he pleaded.

"No, Vaan, you can't. Its girls' night out. You of all people should know what that means. Plus you aren't even old enough to come to the bar." Lightning sighed. '_Dammit Vaan, sometimes you can get pretty irritating if I don't stop you from complaining._' She thought.

Serah opened the door, revealing Snow on the other side. He grinned like an idiot and he immediately stepped inside the home without an invitation. '_Oh great, the idiot is here…_' Lightning rolled her eyes. Snow jogged up to her and immediately spread out his arms in an attempt to hug her tightly. "Hey Sis! Happy birthday!" he said, happily. Lightning quickly stepped on his foot and punched his cheek before he could even manage to put his arms around her. Good God, she really loathed Snow. How Serah managed to put up with him was beyond her. Or rather, how could _anyone _put up with him? Lightning didn't know, and wasn't even going to bother about it. At that moment, she could not believe Snow's audacity.

"Serah… why did the idiot call me sis…? Explain before I kill him and hide his body in the basement!" she yelled.

"Uh… Light? Maybe you should calm down…" Vaan interjected nervously. He moved closer to his adoptive sister and moved his arms so that they were in front of him in an attempt to calm Lightning down. It was a feeble attempt, but it didn't stop him from doing that.

Lightning ignored him and went on with her outrage, "Well, Serah? Care to explain?"

"Well… um Light, see the thing is… Snow and I are getting married in three months!" Serah spoke up, trying to smile. Only, the smile turned out to be a nervous grin. "I was going to tell you soon! I'm being h-honest, really!" she went on. Serah knew what was going to happen. She knew Lightning's thought process. All hell was going to break loose in a matter of seconds.

Lightning took in a deep breath, her nostrils flared and her lips moved to form a tight line. Her fingers curled up to form two tight fists. "What? You're engaged?" she asked, disbelieving what she had just heard. "You are not going to get married to this idiot! I absolutely forbid it! You better leave now, '_hero_' for good. Or do you want to know how good my aim is with my fist again?" she asked. Her fists became tighter and Vaan moved forward to grab her arms before she actually did punch Snow. It was another feeble attempt to stop Lightning, but it was worth a shot anyway. Snow slowly backed away from Lightning, not wanting to get punched by her again. He had figured from the previous punch that she was _a lot_ stronger than she looked.

"Light, no! Please, just listen to me. I _love_ him and he loves me back. I'm old enough to make my own decisions about my life!" Serah pleaded.

Lightning opened her mouth, but she was unable to as in that exact moment, Laguna entered the home and made his presence known to everyone in the room. "Let's get going girls! No more killing business tonight, Lightning! Uncle Laguna is her to guide you to your destination!" he said, grinning. Vaan sighed in relief as he let go of Lightning's arms. '_Leave it up to Laguna to calm her down. God bless that man._' He thought, as he looked up at the light peach colored ceiling and put his palms together as if in prayer. He still wished he was able to go to the club, however. Vaan sighed, wishing he was twenty one. He turned his attention back to Lightning, who was still fuming, but was fortunately making no attempt to maim Snow (or well, at least for now).

"This conversation isn't over, Serah. We'll discuss this _after _the party… whether you like it or not." Lightning fumed (and Vaan could practically see the steam coming out from her ears), as she walked outside of her home and into Laguna's running car.

Meanwhile, Snow had thrown his arm over Vaan's shoulders and sighed loudly, glad that he was not going to be killed by his fiancé's sister. "That was close, huh?" he asked Vaan, who was still upset he wasn't able to go to the party. Trying to forget about it, Vaan spoke up, "Wanna watch a movie or something?" he asked Snow, who simply nodded at Vaan's question. The two plopped down on the couch and looked through the movie channels to find what was playing.

Unfortunately for Lightning, her anger continued to grow exponentially when Laguna had led them in the wrong direction for more than half an hour. This made them late to Tifa's bar, 7th Heaven. . It had ben Tifa's bar for quite some time now. She had acquired it after her father had decided to retire from his profession few years prior (who was now living comfortably on the other side of town). The bar underwent many cosmetic changes but the changes had been for the better as business had been booming and the bar became a constant destination for night outs, parties, and of course, for the entertainment it provided as well. Tifa loved her bar and that was a fact. And she had been more than happy to hold Lightning's birthday party at the bar and was glad when Serah approached her for it. Besides, Lightning needed to lighten up for a while too. The pink haired woman deserved it.

"Great, you guys are finally here!" Tifa smiled (she had been standing near the entrance as she waited for the pink haired sisters to arrive) as Lightning and Serah entered the bar. Serah had managed to calm down during the ride and now had a small smile playing on her pink lips. While Lightning, on the other hand, still kept the sour look on her face from when they left the apartment with the news of Serah engagement to the idiot named Snow. Lightning never liked him. '_This better be good._' Lightning thought.

Tifa looked over at Laguna, who was waving to her from the driver's seat. Tifa waved back for just a second, smiled and then turned back to the sisters once Laguna had left. "Why did you let Laguna drive you?" Tifa asked. She brushed back her sleek, long black hair behind her ear and dusted off imaginary particles of dust off her black blazer and sheer silk white blouse. She made sure nothing was on her black dress pants either. Luckily, there was nothing there and Tifa motioned for the sisters to follow her. Serah followed, however Lightning refused to budge from her spot. Tifa then had to forcefully grab the other woman's hand before hearing any protest (and pretending not to hear any later) from the sour faced pink haired woman.

Inside 7th Heaven, the music was pumping and vibrations could be felt throughout the large room. It was dark inside, only to be lighted by various the neon lights placed throughout the bar on the walls and the large stage in the front center edge of the room. Pink, blue, green, red and white lights moved about on the shiny stage. Loud conversations, laughter, gasps and even snorts could be heard from various tables that were placed throughout. Tifa led Serah to a table specifically for her. Lightning, however was dragged to a chair on the stage, right in the center towards the edge as the spotlight was brought specifically on her.

Tifa adjusted the microphone that was placed right next to the chair Lighting sat in. She gave the audience a toothy white grin and clasped her hands in front of her. "Now that our birthday girl is here, we can now start the party! Now as a present from me, I proudly present one of the best entertainers 7th Heaven has to offer. Everybody please clap for, 'The Dragon'!" With that said and done, Tifa took the microphone and stepped off the stage as the song changed to one with a slower beat and with more saxophones.

'_The Dragon'_? Lightning wondered. '_What the hell does she mean by 'The Dragon'_? As soon as Lightning finished that thought, a man stepped out onto the stage and walked over to her, his long blond hair loose. He began to dance around the chair she sat on. He then began to take off his black shirt slowly and let it drop near her feet. '_She… she… she got me a stripper for my birthday! I can't believe she got me a stripper for my birthday!_' A deep pink blush colored Lightning's cheeks and she sank further into her chair as he continued to dance.

* * *

Lightning didn't know what to do anymore. '_This is officially… the worst birthday ever!_' She didn't want to work for a month in Tifa's bar. She would rather pay the four hundred dollars instead, but she knew Tifa wasn't going to accept that. The universe was against Lightning that day and she almost wondered what she did to the universe that it had to confound her so. Serah and Lightning waited until the bar become empty, excluding the workers and Tifa. The sisters said nothing to each other while they sat at their table. Tifa strode over with her hands over her hips.

"Alright Light… it's decided. You're going to be working as a waitress during the night shift starting next Friday. I expect you to be there on time, be polite to patrons _and _be courteous without getting angry." She told Lightning. Tifa smiled softly and sat down next to Lightning and wrapped her arm around Lightning's shoulders. "Alright, that's all I wanted to say. You guys can go now." Tifa squeezed Lightning's shoulder briefly and then left the sisters.

"See you later, Tifa!" a blond haired man called to the black haired woman before heading up to the back staircase that led to the apartments above the bar. Tifa looked over and smiled, "Goodnight Kain!"

Serah got up first, and Lightning followed suit. The two pink haired sisters left the premises (but not before telling their dear friend Tifa goodbye). The two were able to go home when a friend picked them up instead of Laguna (which made Lightning feel relieved by just a little bit). When the sisters finally arrived home, Serah immediately went into her bedroom and wished Vaan a good night. Serah was actually quite relived that Snow had left; she didn't want to see him get punched by Lightning again. The said sister entered the home a moment after Serah. Vaan turned to Lightning and smiled at Lightning.

"So, how was the birthday party?" he asked her. Lightning glared at him for a second. Vaan simply blinked, expecting to hear that the party was fun… or at least something along those lines. That was not the case, however.

Lightning said nothing and she walked toward her room in haste and slammed the door as hard as she could.

"…Okay… I guess not…" Vaan said, as he stood up, turned off the lights in the living room and headed off into his room.


	2. Vaan's Life as King of the Freeloaders

_A/N: Just so it's a bit clearer… the early odd chapters are Lightning and Kain based while the early even chapters are Vaan and Balthier based. You can skip either chapters or just skim through it. However, it's recommended to read both even and odd chapters for better understanding of what's going on and so it 'flows' a bit better. In any case, whatever you choose to do is fine._ c:

Chapter Two: _Vaan's Life as King of the Freeloaders_

Vaan had to know what happened at Lightning's birthday party. The itch for the knowledge of the party wouldn't go away, even as he tried to go to sleep. The bed sheets rumpled, the pillow was left askew when he knocked it with his tossing and turning. Vaan looked at the digital clock on the stand next to his bed. It wasn't too late to ask and Lightning would probably still be awake. He moved his tanned arms behind his head. '_Should I really go ask her? Or will she try to kill me? But…I really wanna know what happened… Serah did say that it was going to be fun when she was planning it. Damn it, I'm just gonna ask!_' Vaan thought, deciding there and then to find out the mystery of what happened. He shot up quickly (but suffered from a head rush) and after a few seconds, he swung his feet off the bed and onto the hardwood floor. He opened his door widely and looked around the living room. Serah and Lightning weren't there. '_This'll be easy!_' However, Vaan did not bother to think his whole plan through when he rushed towards Lightning's room. In his haste, his ribs and foot managed to knock into the large shelf where Lightning kept the old statues of her family. Of course, Vaan wasn't ever allowed to go near it (unless of course, either Lightning or Serah was there with him so accidents could be avoided).

The shelf shook from Vaan's impact and it didn't take long until one statue fell. Vaan stopped in his tracks and managed to hit his elbow against the shelf.

Another statue fell down.

Two other statues followed suit.

The glass on the statues crashed onto the hardwood floor and some even landed on the carpet. '_Oh God no, oh God no, oh God no, oh God no, please not the carpet please! Not the carpet!_' Vaan pleaded in his mind (as if really thinking that would make the situation better). Vaan could practically see Lightning's raging face. He was so screwed. The party had already left her in a terrible mood (he supposed especially since Lightning had slammed the door on him a while prior). "I'm so screwed…" Vaan said. He bit his bottom lip, afraid of what was going to happen to him.

"Vaan, what was that sound?" Lightning yelled from her room.

"N-nothing, it was nothing!" Vaan yelled back. His voice cracked at the end. Lightning felt suspicious. Something broke- loudly and it sounded suspiciously like the statues she had. Lighting sighed, knowing that something was wrong and another problem had already added on top of the stripper problem. '_Dammit Vaan, what did you do?_' She thought. She opened the door to her room with such force that it hit the wall with a loud thud. She stormed up to the living, turned on the lights and stared at the shards that were on the carpet.

"What the hell did you do?" Lightning yelled. "Dammit, Vaan what the hell did you do?" she continued to yell. "There are glass shards everywhere! There are shards on the carpet and on the floor!" she went on and Vaan could practically see the steam coming out of her ears and her face was turning red. Vaan laughed nervously and he began to back away slowly from her. He knew for a fact that she wanted absolutely no bullshit from him. Vaan gulped as he tried to find his voice. He really did not want to face her wrath. Her wrath was something he tried to avoid whenever possible. It scared him to no end. Vaan took in a deep breath.

"So um, h-how was the party?" he asked her. '_Vaan, you're such an idiot! What the hell are you even saying? Okay, okay you can redeem yourself- okay never mind… you can't. Just tell her the truth. Just tell her the truth…_' he thought. Lightning narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, wanting an explanation at that exact second.

"Vaan…" she threatened.

Her mouth formed into a tight line as she waited impatiently for Vaan's answer. "What did you do? She went on. She wasn't in the mood for his nonsense and she wasn't in the mood to answer his question about the party. She refused to do so and she wanted to clear the memories from the bar as soon as possible and Vaan wasn't helping. He wasn't helping at all and she wanted him to stop his bullshit at that exact moment. He rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously for a good ten seconds.

"I… accidentally knocked over the statues?" he laughed it off nervously.

Lightning's temper had gotten even worse (and Vaan had to wonder if it was even possible for her to do that).

"And I'm… sorry? Yeah! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to knock over the statues! It was a complete accident and I really didn't mean to do that." He said.

Vaan gulped again. He was seriously digging his own grave at that point. The thing that made the situation worse was that he, Serah and Lightning were all staying at Lightning's other home and that home was the place she loved and took care of it as much as she could. In other words…Vaan was screwed whether he liked it or not and he was definitely in big trouble.

"You…. Did what? Vaan I'm going to kill you!" Lightning screamed. "You better clean this up right now and I better not see any shards on my carpet or on my floors! And you know what; you are going to pay for the statues too! I hope you realize how expensive those cost! You better get a job and you better keep it and you better earn all the money to pay everything." She went on.

Lightning was on fire and Vaan could have sworn he saw fire around her, steam coming out of her ears, and he knew for a fact that she reached her boiling point and he knew for a fact that all he could do was just do as she said. There was no use for him to object or complain or say anything else. Vaan nodded, understanding and he walked over to the kitchen, getting a broom and a dust pan.

"And when you get that job, you better learn a sense of responsibility." Lightning said, as she watched him start cleaning up the mess.

"Make sure you clean everything. I expect it to be clean as before, understood?" she went on.

Sighing, Lightning turned around, and went back to her room, slamming the door once again. Vaan looked at one of the shattered photo statues. One of the broken statues he noticed was one of Lightning's favorites. In that certain statue, Lightning was twelve in the picture and Serah was nine. In the center was Vaan himself and he was six at that time and the sisters' parents were there standing behind the trio. Vaan remembered that large glass statue and sighed.

Vaan was screwed. There was nothing he could do to get out of the situation. He had to get a job. He had to earn money to pay off the expensive statues. He didn't know how much they cost, but the bottles sure looked expensive. He collected the shards as much as he could and almost cried when he saw that it was already on the carpet. The edge of the carpet had more glass shards than it did on the floor.

'_I'm dead._' He thought. '_She's really gonna kill me this time. Guess I really gotta get a job._' Vaan continued to collect the shards in the dustpan.

He stopped cleaning for a moment as an idea formed in his head. '_Wait… what if I _don't_ get the job? What if they hate me and don't give it to me…?_' Vaan's lips curved up into a small smile.

'_That's perfect! That's what I gotta do! Just pretend to have a terrible personality and I'll be good._'

He paused for a moment however.

'_What if they see through it?_' he wondered.

Vaan almost laughed out loud. He stopped himself however, before any sound could make its way out of his mouth.

'_Nah, I doubt it._' Once he was done clearing the shards off the hardwood floor, he took the broom and began to move the shards of glass onto the dust pan from the carpet. He made extra care to go over the areas that had the glass shards several times. He didn't want to hurt anyone or himself and get glass stuck in their feet. Lightning was going to maim him for sure, but Vaan was ready for that anyway.

'_Guess that's my fate…_' he sighed.

And with all that out of the way, Vaan put everything away back to where it was, washed his hands (and made sure that there were no shards on his hands and feet) and turned off the light. He made his way to his room, taking his time to go back and making sure not to knock into anything else. Vaan plopped onto his bed, tired and ready to go sleep and be ready for the very next day in which he was doomed to look for a job.

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bacey!" Serah shouted, happily.

She stood outside of Vaan's door and knocked on it loudly.

"Come on Vaan, get up! You have a long day ahead of you!" she continued.

He groggily opened his eyes Serah shouted at him so damn early. Vaan hated mornings. But he hated this one in particular. Vaan turned over onto his side and looked at the digital clock on the night stand. It was eight in the morning. Normally, he would sleep in later until the afternoon. But no, he couldn't. He had to spend his Saturday looking for a job after he brushed his teeth, showered and ate all by at least nine thirty that morning and it was only eight in the morning. Vaan groaned, not wanting to leave the warm safe comfortable haven of his bed. But the idea of Lightning killing him only scared him. He sighed loudly, and lazily got himself out of bed.

"I don't wanna do this…" he said, to himself. "I really don't wanna do this…" he complained.

"Sorry Vaan, I can't do anything about that. Just get up and keep Light in a good mood, okay?"Serah went on.

"You know how mad she was at you last night. Don't make it worse now. Just do that, okay?" Serah asked

. She then went off to the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone and Vaan stood by his door, sighing.

'_Might as well…_' he thought. Vaan left the comfort of his bedroom and made his way to the bathroom (which he of course, knocked first) and later waited when Lightning called out from inside. Vaan could smell the omelets from the kitchen and it all smelled so good that he wanted to eat everything in sight.

'_I thought she said bacey…._'

Lightning finally exited the bathroom, her hair wet from the shower and Vaan rolled his eyes, "Final-"he stopped himself from speaking.

He remembered Serah's words from before and decided to heed them. She was right and he knew it.

"Mornin', Light!" Vaan said.

That was a safer thing to say. He couldn't ruin her mood this time around… he just couldn't. He didn't want to be threatened again (but the fact that he had to find a job really made him anxious). Lightning looked at Vaan, not saying anything at first.

"Good morning." She replied, bored.

Vaan sighed in relief. She wasn't angry. He was safe for now. Serah was piling plates on the kitchen table and was beginning to load all the food on the table and on the plates. Lightning had made her way to the table, sitting down on one of the chairs, picked up a fork and began to dig into the omelet that Serah placed on Lightning's plate. Vaan entered the bathroom, brushed his teeth (and making sure that his teeth were white when he finished) with his blue toothbrush and later exited the bathroom. With that done, he went back to his room, gathered his clothes for the day and entered the bathroom once again and took his shower. Once he had come out, Vaan's sandy blond hair had stuck to his face. He'll deal with his hair later, he wanted to eat first and do everything else later. The omelets smelled so good and he made his way towards the kitchen table, took his usual seat and looked down at the omelet that had already been set down for him.

"Thanks, Serah!" he said happily, as he stuffed a forkful of the omelet into his mouth.

His face was close to the dish so his fork wouldn't have to travel such a long distance to his mouth. Serah smiled down at the boy and stopped cooking. She left a glass of orange juice by Vaan's dish (as to which Vaan again replied with a 'thank you' with a mouthful of his breakfast). Serah then began to wash whatever dishes had been left in the sink. Anything that was left, she would do them later, or either Vaan or Lightning would. It didn't matter to her either way. Lightning had already finished her meal and she rolled her eyes as she stared at Vaan in annoyance.

"Vaan… don't talk with your mouth full. Learn some manners." She said.

Lightning sipped from her coffee mug. Vaan looked up at Lightning but did not bother to say anything and instead continued to eat. Vaan swallowed and paused, his hand resting and holding onto the fork that held a piece of the omelet. He took a swig of the orange juice and in that moment, Lightning finished her coffee, moved over to the sink and placed the mug there gently. Serah by then had already finished cleaning the dishes and the pan and they were then left to dry on the dish rack.

"Don't forget to wash the dishes when you're done eating." Lightning said. She left the kitchen and went to the living room where she then began to watch TV, flipping the channels until she found something interesting.

Vaan grimaced, not wanting to do any work. He was a freeloader- probably the best that ever was. Being a freeloader was the one thing he was good at but that was all gone now. Now that he actually thought about, Vaan realized that he didn't have any 'good' skills. The best that he could even come up with was that he could lie pretty easily. But what good was that? Nothing, once he really got down to it.

'_Oh yeah, no one is going to hire me now. Great!_ _This is so great! I'm the last person anyone would hire!_' he thought, happily. He was in better spirits already. Vaan really was the world's best freeloader and he was going to keep his title as the king of it. Vaan continued to eat and once he finished the last mouthful, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He stood up, placed his dish and fork in the sink, took a swig of the orange juice, finished it and placed it in the sink as well. "Finish washing the rest of the dishes!" Lightning called out from the living room. Vaan rolled his eyes, but turned on the faucet anyway and began to wash the dishes one by one.

'_There goes my title as King of the Freeloaders…_'

"Okay, Lightning, I'm leaving! Bye Serah!" Vaan shouted, once he opened the door and waved goodbye to the pink haired sisters.

The sisters yelled back and Serah had even added a "Good luck!" at the end. Vaan locked the door to the home, shoved the keys in the front left pocket of his jeans and began to leave, but not before checking his phone for a moment and then shoving it in the right front pocket.

'_Okay, here goes…_' he thought.

Vaan walked around the neighborhood, first checking if any of the local stores had any wanted ads (none did incidentally and of course Vaan was very glad about that). But he knew that Lightning wanted him to keep on hunting… probably even for hours. He continued down the blocks and streets and avenues and he still came up with nothing (except for the hiring advertisement at the tattoo parlor but he obviously couldn't do that so that was ruled out quickly… except the idea of wanting a tattoo did linger in his mind…). But Vaan continued on his endless search for a job as his title of king of the freeloaders began to diminish from his mind. Whoever would become the new king (or queen!) would have all of his respect and maybe Vaan would be able to pass along his knowledge as the former monarch and teach the new monarch everything he knew and more. That is, if he ever managed to meet such a person. He doubted the possibility. It was too high of an improbability for the two to meet (though it would have been nice anyway).

Though as he made his way towards the end of the block, Vaan noticed a 'now hiring' sign behind the window of a café called 'Empyrean Café'.

'_Weird name for a café…_' Vaan thought, as he stared at the 'now hiring' sign.

He debated whether or not to enter the place and to actually inquire about the job. Vaan really, _really_ did not want to inquire at all. But no, he had to, only because he knew that Lightning would want him to come back with a job… or maybe even a report back saying that no one wanted to bother to hire him (and a bigger and better reason was that he had no useful skills in what he tried out for). Vaan had stood there, just staring at the sign for perhaps five or more minutes when he noticed a woman with short platinum blond hair, wearing an apron with pink frosting and glitter on it. She had a small name tag on the apron which read "Ashe" in bold blue uppercase letters. Underneath Ashe's name read 'owner & baker' in smaller uppercase letters in pink. She looked up at Vaan when she noticed him standing there, looking at the 'now hiring' sign.

She smiled, and came out of the café. "Are you the one who called about the job?" she asked him, excitedly.

She gave Vaan little time to answer as she grabbed his arm and led him inside the place.

"Hey- wait!" Vaan began. Ashe seemed to have ignored him. The place itself looked very new, including the glass doors, the white and pink wallpaper inside and the cream colored tables inside. Even the tiles looked so brand new that Vaan could practically see his reflection on them. Ashe led Vaan towards the back of the café and into her office, where she made him sit on the other side of the desk and she sat in the large leather chair opposite of Vaan.

"You know, I've been waiting for you to arrive for a while now. I actually thought you weren't going to make it, but here you are! And thank goodness too; I thought I was going to lose hope!" Ashe said.

She made no attempt to listen to Vaan as he tried to explain that he wasn't the person she was waiting for.

"Anyway, is there anything you want to ask about? Everything including whatever training will be taught, of course by Balthier, our assistant manager. He's the best at what he does, so be sure to listen to whatever he says. So anyway, don't worry about a thing because you'll be just fine!" Ashe smiled.

Vaan figured he could take this opportunity to say something about himself or something about the job (or whatever sounded condescending so he wouldn't get the job) while Ashe was quiet. She continued to smile as she waited for him to say something.

'_I got it!_' Vaan thought. "Yeah, there actually are a couple of things I want to ask…" Vaan began, as he leaned in closer from his side, "Why did you name your café something stupid like Empyrean Café? Like seriously, who names a food place that? This place is so girly and out of place, who would even want to spend their money and time here? No one, that's who." Vaan said.

'_That's it, keep going! You can do this!_' Vaan thought. Ashe didn't say anything for a moment. She had no readable expression on her face and Vaan took that as a sign to continue.

"And… why would you even open this place so far out? Did you really think that anyone in their right mind would even come out all this way for some coffee?" he asked. Vaan leaned back into his chair, smirked and waited for a response. He hoped that he would be shot down and be told to get out of the café.

Ashe looked at Vaan intently for a moment. She shook her head, her blond hair following her movements.

"Did you really think…" she began, as Vaan waited in anticipation for her to tell him off, "that you could seriously get out of this job? Yeah, nice try, but you're not going to get out of this easily." She said.

Vaan stared at her in shock. Ashe continued, "Did you really think acting like that, and I know you were just faking everything you said, would really work? Well nice try because I'm seriously not buying that nonsense."

Vaan could only stare at her in horror. His plan backfired on him! What sort of world was he living in? Why was the universe turning on him and his title as king of freeloading? Vaan sunk back into the chair. Ashe saw through Vaan's acting (which he thought was pretty good to begin with!). He couldn't bring himself to say anything and Ashe looked down at her hands and shook her head.

"Anyway, like I said, nice try but you're not getting out of this that easily." She went on.

Vaan didn't know what to do anymore. He nodded weakly, still in shock. '_Maybe,_' he thought, '_Maybe this is all just a dream and if I just pinch myself I'll just wake up in my bed and everything would be back to normal…_' Vaan pinched his arm as hard as he could. He flinched. It wasn't a dream. It was reality and he was actually getting a job he didn't want in the first place! He knew it, the universe was against him.

"Oh, before I forget, we have a uniform!" Ashe said, happily.

Vaan looked at her simply and waited for her to go on. "We'll give it to you later though, so don't worry. It's a simple uniform- a white collared dress shirt, black dress pants and a vest…" she listed, moving her hand in a small circle in rhythm with her words.

'_I'm so screwed… and she's probably not gonna listen to me even if I try to explain… I'm so screwed… I wish I was dreaming._' He thought.

Ashe stood up and motioned to Vaan to follow her. "Come on, I'll show you what you'll have to do." Vaan stood up and followed after her when she led him to the main area with the tables and the door leading back to the kitchen.

"You'll be taking orders and bringing dishes to the tables from the kitchen." She explained. "You'll have to learn all of the food and drinks that we serve and the numbers of the tables. Balthier will be teaching you, like I said before so come back at eight o' clock sharp tomorrow morning. We'll also figure out your schedule tomorrow too. So don't be late!" Ashe went on. Vaan nodded understanding- even though now he practically had no choice but to come back tomorrow.

'_I bet Lightning and Serah are both going to be surprised once they hear about this…_' he thought.

Even he himself couldn't believe it.

"Anyway, you're good for now, so you can go, but don't forget to come back eight sharp tomorrow morning!" Ashe reminded him.

A man with short bronze colored hair that was obviously gelled dressed in the café's uniform passed by with a large stack of clean dishes.

Ashe smiled, "Balthier! Come over here for a minute!"

The man (who Vaan supposed to be Balthier) looked over, placed the stack of dishes on an empty table, and walked over to Ashe.

Once he came up to the two, Ashe was the first one to speak up, "This is Balthier… the assistant manager."

Ashe gestured toward the bronze haired man. Vaan wasn't sure what to think of Balthier. He wore earrings on both ears (which Vaan just _had_ to raise an eyebrow at) and had such dark brown eyes. Balthier looked at Vaan, skeptical at the idea that Vaan was the new guy that Ashe hired.

"And Balthier… this is that new guy that I was telling you about." Ashe turned back to Vaan.

"He's the best there is, and he'll be the one teaching you everything that you need to know. So be sure to pay extra attention."

Vaan nodded. Balthier couldn't really believe that Vaan was the one that Ashe was going to hire. He felt as though Vaan was… wet behind the ears, if anything and he doubted that Vaan could actually do anything, honestly.

Vaan smiled, trying to be friendly, "Nice to meet you Balthier." He said. Balthier looked at Vaan for a moment before really saying anything and smirked.

"This is the new guy?" Balthier asked.

Vaan wasn't sure what he meant by that… but to Vaan it sounded as Balthier did not believe at all that Vaan could do anything. Plus Vaan found it strange and perhaps even a bit rude that Balthier did not even say anything nice back to him.

Ashe had nodded, smiling. "Good luck." Balthier said, adding a chuckle at the end. And with that Balthier went back to the pile of dishes he carried and brought the stack back in the kitchen. Vaan stood there, in surprise (though he felt like he really should not be; Balthier was probably right anyway).

Ashe turned back to Vaan. "So, as I was saying before, come back tomorrow at eight sharp, okay? There's not much else for today, everything will be done tomorrow. So see you then, alright?" she asked.

Vaan rubbed the back of his head and told her that he will most definitely be there and after telling her bye, he left the café and walked all the way back to Lightning's home, ready to tell her the 'good news'. There was no way out of it and he knew that. Lightning would most definitely tell him to stay committed to the job, work there, and be the best one there. Vaan sighed and brought his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time. It was already five in the afternoon and Vaan sighed again. He put his phone back into his pocket and walked back home slowly as he could. Once he finally arrived back home, it was six thirty. Vaan took his keys out, opened the door, stepped in, took off his shoes and locked the door.

"I'm home…" he called out, his voice full of misery.

Vaan made his way to the living room where he plopped down on the black leather couch, tired and still disbelieving what had happened earlier at the café. Lightning and Serah both sat in the living room, watching the television. The two pink haired sisters had looked up when Vaan had arrived and followed his movements with their eyes.

"Welcome back," Lightning said, as she sat up straighter on the couch, "So, how did it go?" she asked. Lightning crossed her legs and put the TV remote on the glass coffee table. Serah smiled at Vaan and she too was curious about his day and his little journey. Vaan sighed quietly and was silent for a few seconds.

"I'm… officially a waiter…" he said, thinking about the events that occurred earlier. "And… I gotta go back tomorrow morning at eight sharp." Vaan continued and he almost wished again that it was all just a dream. Lightning smiled, feeling proud of him and Serah grinned.

"That's so great Vaan!" Serah said. She clasped her hands together. "Though you know… we didn't actually think you'd-"She stopped talking when Lightning glared and elbowed her. "That you'd come back so early from hunting!" Serah corrected himself. "Anyway! Let's have a nice dinner today! Vaan, I'll make your favorite today in celebration! What do you say? She continued. Vaan looked at her in surprise, and a smile formed on his lips.

"Really?" he asked. "You'd do that?" he went on. Serah nodded. She stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"Yeah, of course Vaan! You deserve it! In fact, I'll start right now and everything should be ready by eight!" Serah replied. Vaan grinned and Lightning leaned back into the couch.

"Good job, Vaan. I'm … proud of you of actually being responsible." Lightning told him.

Vaan smiled at her and he decided to leave out the part that he was inevitably… accidentally… unwillingly made to take the waiter job. '_But… maybe it won't be so bad? I mean… even the uniform means that it's a pretty nice place but… I guess I'll just have to get used to the idea…_'he thought. '_I seriously can't tell Lightning how I even got the job. She'll probably think I'm a bigger idiot than she thought. Yeah… seriously can't do that._'

"Don't forget to set your alarm to wake up early tomorrow. You said that you have to go back eight sharp tomorrow, didn't you? Lightning asked.

Vaan nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Go set it now before you forget. Don't just leave until like you usually do, Vaan. You're going to have to be more responsible from now on and I expect you to keep this job and not quit after a few days just because you think it's 'too hard'. And Vaan… don't even try to get fired. You need to learn some responsibility.' Lightning lectured and he nodded, telling her that he got this. "Good, glad you understand Vaan." She smiled at him. And with that said and done, Vaan made his way to his room, where he collapsed onto his bed and set the alarm.

"Well… I guess I'm not king anymore." Vaan lamented, as he rolled over on his bed, waiting for Serah to call him for dinner.


	3. Lightning's Smug Bastard

_Chapter Three: Lightning's Smug Bastard_

Lightning looked at her waitress uniform and sighed, thinking '_Damn Tifa and damn the stupid 'Dragon'_.' She looked up, thanking Etro for the fact that Vaan and Serah were not at home. She was glad that Vaan had decided to pay Terra- his best friend- a visit and she was glad that Serah was going on a date with Snow (even if Lightning still despised the bastard). It was already 7:30 in the evening and Lightning had to leave for the damned job. She opened the door, ready to leave when she immediately saw Snow on the other side. She glared at him.

"Going somewhere, sis?" Snow asked, as he looked up and down at her uniform.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lightning asked. "Serah isn't home." She added on.

Snow chuckled, "Serah told me to wait for her here while she picked something up." He said. Lightning sighed and rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for this. '_Control yourself, Light. Remember, you have to be at the bar._' She thought.

"I don't have time for this. You better be out of here by the time I come back. Don't touch anything in the house or else there will be one less idiot in the world. " Snow nodded and he quickly entered the home, picked up whatever he needed and he quickly left, but not before yelling 'bye sis!' while she walked out and locked the door. Lightning didn't even look to see if he understood as she left. She walked out towards the garage, stepped in the car, started it, and drove to the bar. When she finally arrived and after she parked the car, Lightning walked over to the entrance of 7th Heaven and sighed. She looked at the bar for a moment, trying to mentally prepare herself for the job.

'_Maybe he isn't there today._' She thought. '_Oh God, please don't let him there._'

The door opened and Lightning's hopes immediately evaporated into thin air. On the other side of the door was a blond haired man who just so happened to be Lightning's worst nightmare as of that moment_. _ _'The 'Dragon' is here today! Just my damn luck!'_ she thought.

"Does the pink haired princess need to be invited or escorted in?" he asked. He smirked as he saw Lightning's cheeks began to turn pink and when she began to glare at him.

She shook her head, "Don't give me that crap. I don't need you to let me in." She walked inside the bar, trying to get away from 'The Dragon'. He watched Lightning as she walked towards Tifa, trying to ignore him. Tifa smiled as she saw Lightning and she put down her glass of water on the table. "So what should I do?" Lightning asked.

"Well, go get the notepad from over there," Tifa said, as she pointed toward the sleek black counter, "take orders and try to be polite. Don't forget to smile for the customers and answer all questions. Don't forget to tell them about the special for today. That's all you'll need to do, Light, okay? If you have any other questions, just ask Kain." Tifa pointed towards the blond from earlier. Lightning was quiet for a moment. "Oh right, before I forget- you have to work in the back rooms later on."

"I'll be sure not to have any questions then. Where do I begin?" Lightning asked. Tifa opened her mouth to tell Lightning to wait until a customer came in, but she stopped doing so when a couple entered the bar in that exact moment and were then waiting by the entrance. Tifa turned back to Lightning and brushed strands of her sleek black hair behind her ear.

"See that couple over there by the entrance? You can start by showing that couple to their seats. Introduce yourself as their waitress. And remember, give them the bill after they finish!" Tifa said. She then took a sip of water from her glass. Lightning nodded and grabbed the notepad that was placed on the counter. She walked toward the couple and Lightning managed to crack a small smile when she greeted them.

"Hello, please follow me. Right this way." Lightning said and she began to take the couple to an empty table. She knew Tifa was watching her and she knew that Tifa expected Lightning to do as she was told. Lightning did her job and she had then moved back to where Tifa was.

"At least none of my family members are here to see me like this." Lightning said. Tifa rolled her eyes and giggled for a second.

It was then and there that Laguna and Squall entered the bar and Laguna had an arm around Squall's shoulders. Squall looked annoyed (and honestly, Lightning couldn't have blamed him). "Hey, Light! Look, Squall! It's Lightning!" Laguna said, with a great big smile on her face.

"Spoke too soon…" Lightning mumbled.

Squall turned to Light and didn't say anything. Laguna walked over to his pink haired niece and Squall followed his father. Laguna looked at Light for moment, seeing that she was wearing the bar's waitress uniform. "So you work here now, Light?" he asked. Lightning said nothing and sighed quietly. "Looks like you and Squall are going to be working at the same time." Laguna continued.

'_Great, so Vaan and Serah don't see me embarrass myself here, but my cousin and uncle do instead. This is just great._' Lightning thought. She sighed, "Laguna, I'm busy right now. Don't say a word about this to anyone. Not. A. Word." With that said Lightning moved away from the counter and fetched the food that the couple earlier had ordered. When she finally gave the couple their food, Lightning walked back towards the counter and that was when Kain decided at that moment to talk to her. He stood close to the counter, his elbow resting on the counter itself.

"What are you doing here anyway, Princess?" Kain asked.

"Living my worst nightmare…" Lightning mumbled, mostly to herself.

"… Really? Now why is that? Being a waitress isn't so bad." Kain said, as he leaned in closer to her.

"Don't you have to work or something?" she asked, annoyed.

"Not for another hour. I figured that I could spend some time with my new favorite waitress."

"Your new favorite waitress?" she asked. Lightning rolled her eyes, "What happened to your old favorite?" Lightning didn't turn to look at him as she waited for the couple to finish eating. "Anyway, why don't you go bother someone else? I'm busy."

"But Lightning, you're so interesting." He whispered. Lightning turned around sharply, tired of his nonsense and was about to tell him off until she knocked her hip into a stool, sending it to crash down on the black tiled floor. Lightning's heart skipped a beat when she managed to trip over her feet in the process and was falling down. She closed her eyes, bracing for the impact but was stopped suddenly and she felt a strong arm wrapped around her waist. Lightning opened her eyes, searching for what had happened- only to find that Kain's arm was around her waist and he was looking down at her in amusement.

"I never thought you would be so clumsy." He chuckled. Lightning's mouth formed a scowl.

"Shut up, I'm not clumsy!" she retorted. "Now get your arm off of my waist!" she hissed. Kain rolled his eyes and took his arm off her waist. He made sure that she was standing properly.

"What, I don't get any thanks for just saving your life, princess?" Kain asked.

Lightning said nothing and simply glared at him. She sighed quietly and brushed off some dust off her uniform, turned around and went to the couple to take away their food once she noticed that they were finished eating. The door opened again and instead of a potential customer for Lightning, a young child with silver hair entered the bar. The child immediately saw Lightning with Kain's arm around her waist and she was looking positively annoyed even as she took the dishes off the table and walked towards the kitchen. The child glared at Kain, not liking the older male immediately. The silver haired child bounced up to Kain (who was simply watching Lightning as she did her job as he leaned his back against the counter). The child looked up at Kain and tugged on Kain's shirt. Kain looked down at the child, who now had an angelic smile gracing his face.

"Hey kid, you lost?" Kain asked. "Need help?" he went on, slightly confused as to why there was a child in the bar.

The child nodded, "I'm looking for my mom!" he said, happily. "She has pink hair, and she's tall and her name is Lightning!" the child continued.

Kain said nothing for a moment as he looked at the small child. He blinked- twice. '_Shit! She…. She has a kid?!_' he thought. He didn't know what to think. Kain swallowed and pointed to where Lightning was. She was taking back an order form another customer and was proceeding to place it where the cooks could get the orders done.

The child gave Kain a big grin, "Thanks!" With that said, the child made his way toward Lightning, who was beginning to walk towards another customer. "Mommy!" he yelled, happily. The child bounced over to Lightning and once she did, she ceased walking and watched as the child went over and hugged her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She was surprised to see him- especially at the bar too!

"Hope… what are you doing here?" Lightning asked. Hope frowned and looked up at Lightning's eyes while he let go of her waist.

"The police brought me here after a bunch of stuff happened. Mom's gone." Hope replied, softly.

"…."

Lightning couldn't believe what Hope was saying. Something was clearly wrong if Hope was brought here and the fact that Nora was gone. She licked her lips. "Nora is gone? Damn it… Hope, are the police still outside?" she asked. Hope nodded. "Alright, I'll be right back." She added. Lightning took in a deep breath and made her towards the door. "Tifa, I'm taking my break now! It's an emergency!" Tifa looked over and nodded, once she saw Hope next to her. Lightning took Hope's hand and led the young boy outside. She pushed open the glass doors and walked towards the police car once she saw it. Her grip on Hope's hand tightened as they neared the car.

"What happened to Nora?" Lightning asked, once she reached the policeman and policewoman. The two ceased their talking and turned to Lightning once the pink haired woman reached them. The two glanced at each other and looked at Hope. The policewoman turned to Lightning and told the pink haired woman to follow her. Lightning sighed, and let go of Hope's hand. "Hope, stay here with the policeman while I speak with the policewoman, alright?" she asked. Hope nodded and stood in his spot. Lightning and the policewoman walked away from the policeman and Hope so that Hope wouldn't be able to hear.

"Ms. Farron, it seems as if someone broke in and entered Mrs. Estheim's home while her son was at school and murdered her. We are trying our best to get further information in this matter and find out the suspect." The woman said. Lightning took in a deep breath, not believing what she was hearing. Lightning's client was murdered while Hope and his father were out… she couldn't imagine what Hope went through. "It was the father of the child who saw Mrs. Estheim and called 911. He said that he was visiting his wife to drop off the child at her home." The woman went on.

"He has, an alibi, right?" Lightning asked.

The woman nodded, "Like I said, everything matches up with Mr. Estheim. He's in the clear. He was with his son the whole time. He did say that he was going to drop off his son at his wife's home."

Lightning sighed again. This wasn't good. Everything turned out terribly. "How did you know I was here?"

"We first came to your house only to find out that you were here. Your sister confirmed the location."

"I don't believe this! You're telling me that your so called 'security' failed to protect Mrs. Estheim?! Even after the previous case? I can't believe this. And you don't even get much evidence yet as to who did it? What the hell are you all doing?! I can't believe you even let the ten year old boy even into the bar!" Lightning yelled.

The woman sighed and looked down, "We had to wait and see if he saw you! We can't go in there without creating too big of a commotion!"

Lightning sighed and combed back her hair with her hand, "Fine- just fine. Just go and leave Hope with me. He'll be fine with me." Lightning looked back at Hope, who was happily chatting with the policeman.

* * *

Kain couldn't stop panicking over the fact that Lightning had a child. '_Son… she has a son… Is she married? Damn it Kain, you know married women are off limits! Wait, is she even married?It can't be… Tifa might know! She knows Lightning… right?_' he thought. Kain looked down at his watch and saw that it was finally time for him to go on. Tifa walked up to him, "Kain, are you ready?" she asked. Kain nodded and Tifa began to walk away, going towards the back rooms where she was to announce that Kain was to appear.

"Tifa, wait!" Kain called out, as he hopped off the stool and jogged up to the black haired woman.

Tifa turned around and faced theblond haired 'money-maker'. "Yeah? What's up?" she asked.

Kain scratched the back of his head. "Hey Tifa… is your friend Lightning married? Does she even have a boyfriend?"

Tifa smirked, crossed her arms and leaned back on one foot. "No, she's not married. She's totally single. Is there anything else you want to know, Kain? Like her favorite food, her favorite color, her favorite book, maybe?" she said.

Kain chucked nervously, "Nah, that's fine Tifa. Thanks." Kain sighed and made his way towards the back rooms to change for the show as Tifa walked toward the back rooms. '_Okay, so she's single. Thank Etro she's not married. Seriously. A kid isn't going to stop me!_' he thought.

* * *

There wasn't any point in yelling at the officer. She sighed and told them to leave and as the two officers entered the car, Lightning grabbed Hope's hand. She watched as the officers drive away and as soon as they were gone, she took Hope inside the bar again. Lightning scanned the bar and found Laguna relaxing in his usual chair in the bar. She walked up to her uncle with Hope walking beside her.

"Laguna, listen- I need you to watch Hope for me. I'm a little busy right now. I'm just going to call Serah and have her pick Hope up and take him home. Can you do that for me Laguna?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Laguna replied happily. "I'll take care of the little tyke!" he added on, as he ruffled Hope's silver hair.

Lightning nodded and went to the back rooms- where she knew Tifa would have her work. '_Dammit, Tifa!_' The pink haired woman walked to the back rooms with her notepad in hand. It was unfortunate for Lightning for once she stepped in, Tifa had introduced '_The Dragon_' and he was already dancing. '_Just my luck!_' She looked at Kain for a second and he unfortunately met her eyes with his. Lightning blushed against her will and he simply smirked. '_That smug bastard!_' She shook her head, and tried to focus on taking orders and doing her job.

Tifa, on the other hand couldn't stop giggling in her spot by the bartender counter. Cloud, who had shown up sat next to his wife, amused by her behavior. "Is torturing Lightning really all that funny to you?" he asked. Tifa looked at him and smiled, trying to hold in her giggling.

"Yes, it's really worth it. I feel like Lightning and Kain are my little puppets." Tifa said. She moved her fingers as if she was controlling a puppet with strings. "You know he was asking me if she was single? I may have teased him if he wanted to know more." Tifa added on. Cloud shook his head and chuckled.

"You never cease to amaze me, Tifa." He said.

"Good, because you should always be amazed at what I do. Now if you'll excuse me, the puppet master has to get some work done." Tifa said as she walked towards the back rooms again and Cloud simply laughed at her.

Meanwhile, Lightning felt like she was literally being tortured as the show continued on for what might have been hours (at least well, in her opinion). It didn't help when she knew that Kain was probably laughing in his mind about the fact that Lightning was there, serving people while he was dancing and other women were practically screaming over that fact. Kain stopped dancing and he stepped off the stage as Tifa went back to the stage, announcing that the show was over. Lightning sighed quietly in relief once the whole show was over. It felt like an eternity knowing that the one man she despised was stripping behind her back as she did her job. Lightning stopped taking orders by then and placed her notepad back in the orginal spot. Tifa strode over to Lightning.

"Good job, Lightning! You managed to work through a shift! I'm so proud of you! Let's not forget that you still have to do this job for a month." Tifa stated. Lightning rolled her eyes and groaned softly. "Lightning, that attitude is not suited for work!" Tifa went on. "Anyway, you can go now. Your shift is over."

'_Finally! I can finally get out of here and away from the stupid 'Dragon'! Smug bastard._' Lightning thought. She was so damn happy to get away from the asshole that she could have done a little dance (of course she didn't- Lightning wasn't like that obviously). "Thanks, Tifa." She replied, tiredly. Lightning waved goodbye to her dear, dear black haired friend and went to find Laguna. He was still in his usual chair and was simply waiting for Lightning and Hope was fast asleep in the chair next to Laguna. Lightning didn't want to wake up the little boy, but she knew she had to. She sauntered over to her uncle and to Hope. "Thanks, Laguna. I appreciate it." She said. Laguna nodded and moved his head in Hope's direction. Lightning smiled and moved over to the chair Hope slept in. Lightning lightly shook the boy and he woke up, groggy and tired.

"Hey, Light…" he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes. "Are we going now?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's time to go home. Come on, Hope. Let's go." Lightning replied as she brought out her hand for Hope to take. He took her hand and two left the bar, got into her car and she started the car. Lightning started driving back home.

"Hey… Light?" Hope asked from the back seat.

"Yes, Hope?" she asked.

"What's going to happen to mom now?" he asked. "And what's going to go on now?"

Lightning didn't say anything for a moment. "Well, Hope, your mother and father trusted you with me. So you'll be staying with me for a while. Your dad is… going to be fine so don't worry."

"Oh, okay." Hope said. And with that said, Hope stopped talking and instead looked out the window until he eventually went back to sleep again.

Lightening couldn't imagine what Hope was going through. '_I promise Hope, I'll do everything I can to set things right. I vow to get justice for you and your mother. I'll find out who did this to your mother._' She thought. Nothing was going to stop her from getting what the true murderer did to an innocent mother's life. Lightning drove continued to drive that night. Once they arrived at her home, Lightning parked the car in her garage and stepped out. She opened the door to the back seat and undid the seatbelt for Hope. Once she lifted him out, she closed the door, locked the car, unlocked the door, stepped into her home and set Hope down on Vaan's bed. Lightning made sure not to wake up the young boy from his slumber. Lightning sat down on the couch, extremely tired at the events. She needed a way to figure everything out and then defend Hope's father in court. Something had to be done. Lightning needed to relax for now and decided to watch TV and sighed. It was only thirty minutes later when Vaan finally came home from visiting Terra.

"Hey, Light, I'm home." Vaan said, as he made his way towards his room. Lightning raised her arm to show that she acknowledged his presence. Once Vaan opened the door to his room, he stared at the figure on his bed for a moment. He closed the door seconds after and walked back towards his adoptive sister.

"Hey Light, there's a kid on my bed." Vaan spoke up, his thumb pointing back to his room. Lightning said nothing while she contined to watch whatever was on the TV. '_Didn't she hear me?_' Vaan thought. Vaan moved in front of the TV and looked at Lightning.

"There's a weird kid on my bed!" Vaan went on, being louder than before.

Lightning observed Vaan for a moment. "Yeah, whatever."

"There's a flipping kid on my bed!" he shouted.

"Vaan, you're going to wake Hope up! Stop yelling!" she scolded the blond softly. "Anyway, he's staying in your room until I get the guest room ready. So be patient until then and just sleep on the couch!" she went on.

"But-"

"Any objection will lead to me to either destroy or throw away all of your video games and you're going to have to work even longer- even after you pay off all the statues!"

He sighed, defeated. "Fine…"

Vaan didn't want his precious games destroyed. He would rather see them thrown away then destroyed anyway. In any case, both scenarios were terrible and Vaan wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

"Go to sleep anyway, it's late and you're going to wake up early for tomorrow. Remember? Anyway, I'm going to sleep too."

"Yeah, yeah I remember." Vaan sighed. " 'Night." With that all said and done, both Lightning and Vaan changed into their pajamas and went to sleep. Vaan fell asleep on the couch quickly and Lightning took this chance to see what Vaan was planning. She knew him for too long. She knew his little tricks and knew him well enough to know what he was up to. Once Lightning was sure that Vaan was asleep, she snuck back to the living room and checked the alarm that Vaan set it to.

'_Eleven o' clock in the morning, huh Vaan?_' she thought. Lightning changed the time to six o' clock in the morning. '_Nice try Vaan, but you're not getting out of this whole situation that quickly._'


	4. Vaan's Ability to Sigh Infinitely

_A/N: Omg you guys are so lovely with your reviews and me and Fai are just spazzing over them... literally! We're both just like: hoisdflsdhfjsdfsjolf! Haha, anyway, thank you for reviewing! Anyway, we're not sure what you guys mean by side story... everything in this whole fic is important as we have everything planned out completely and everything fits in. Anyway, thank you for reading! 3_

_Chapter Four: Vaan's Ability to Sigh Infinitely_

The alarm began to blare loudly in Vaan's ear and in a quick motion, he slipped off the couch and landed square on his face while he got a mouthful of carpet. His left foot was the only thing that managed to stay put on the couch. Vaan groaned from the sudden fall and he pushed himself up, lowered his left foot and wiped his mouth. '_It seriously can't be eleven right now… it seriously can't be._' He thought. Vaan observed his loud and obnoxious alarm clock and was more than shocked to find that the digital clock said 6:00. '_What- how did this even happen?_' Vaan pushed the small black button on the top of the clock and sighed. There was no way he was going to be able to go back to sleep now. There was no way to get out the situation now and Lightning would kill him (again). Sighing again, Vaan shuffled to the bathroom and when he came out with his teeth brushed, Lightning was already sitting there on the couch waiting for Vaan and once the two made eye contact, Vaan immediately paused while Lightning glared at him. '_She knows! She knows what I did!' _Vaan screamed in his mind._ 'I'm never going live this down, am I? Crap…_'

Lightning cleared her throat. "Isn't there something you need to tell me?" she asked, still glaring.

"Um, good morning?" he asked.

Lightning sighed. She didn't expect Vaan to be compliant. She shook her head and got off the couch and approached the blond. "No, I really don't think that's what you need to tell me. How about something along the lines of, oh, I don't know, sorry for being an idiot and messing up your whole work schedule?"

"Um…"

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes…?"

"Sorry for being irresponsible?"

"Fine, Vaan. Just fine… just go get ready and don't be late." Lightning reminded him.

And with that said, she walked back to her room, deciding to go back to sleep. Vaan sighed in relief and sluggishly walked to the kitchen, making a small and simple breakfast of toast and jam with milk and once he was done (and after he took his time eating), Vaan made his way back to his room sluggishly, grabbed some clothes (all the while that he did, he glared at Hope), went back to the bathroom and took a shower. By the time he was all done with that along with making himself presentable, it was seven twenty five and Vaan had to leave soon especially since Vaan- rather Lightning- wanted for him to arrive at least a little early. Lightning and Serah were the punctual ones of their little family and Vaan… Vaan was the odd one out. Sighing once more, Vaan left the home, locked the door and walked to the café, where he spotted Ashe sitting at one of the tables with a newspaper in her hand and Balthier sitting opposite from her and was simply looking at his phone. It was seven fifty nine when Vaan checked the time and he sighed again. He wasn't ready to go ahead and start the training but they were waiting for him and there Vaan was, just standing outside awkwardly. Groaning inwardly, Vaan approached the glass door, pulled it open and entered the little café. Balthier looked up from his phone for just a second, glanced at Vaan and then turned back to his phone. Ashe immediately looked up from her newspaper and put it down. She got off her chair, smiled and walked over to Vaan.

"Great, you're here! This is great timing too- its 8 sharp!" Ashe said.

Vaan laughed nervously, "Hahaha, here I am…"

"Alright so, let's see… you're going to memorize the tables and the menu first. That'll be easy. Then, we're going to work on your memorization for when you take orders. That doesn't sound too bad, now does it? I didn't think so." She said.

Vaan gulped- he didn't like the sound of memorizing orders so quickly. He shuffled his feet but Ashe did not notice while she brought over a hand drawn map of all the tables and the actual menu of all the baked goods and other foods and drinks that the café offered. Once Vaan saw the menu and the long list, Vaan gulped again. Balthier had put away his phone and was now observing Vaan and Ashe, waiting to see what was going to happen. Balthier could almost picture it- the kid messing up the names of the dishes, mixing orders, and not following a customer's instructions. Vaan took the menu from Ashe and looked at the long list.

"If you're going to take an order for a slice of cake, or a cookie, or whatever it is, you should be able to know which is which and bring the order to the table. I'll show you each one so don't worry about that."

Vaan nodded- it didn't seem too bad. Sure, there were several different types of cake (and his mouth almost watered just by looking at the names and for a moment Vaan actually believed it would not be so terrible working at a café). Yet a second later, he realized that well, it was going to be difficult to memorize the meals and drinks and the tables. It wasn't fair… why was the universe against him? Once he was sure that he got the items down in his head (which nearly took him a good hour), Ashe then decided then and there to make Vaan practice taking orders. Vaan gulped- he wasn't ready to fail miserably.

"Wait, Ashe! Maybe I should continue studying the food, yeah?" he asked.

Ashe sighed, "You took a while getting all the info in. How much more time do you even need?" she asked.

Balthier decided this was a good time to butt in while he put his phone away. "She's right, you know. It didn't even take me that long to memorize everything." He said. '_He'll probably break soon anyway._' Balthier thought.

She nodded to Vaan, "Yes, exactly. It won't be too hard, I promise."

Vaan's shoulders sunk, he knew that Ashe was right. But did Balthier have to glorify his own abilities? Was that even necessary to begin with?! Dammit, not everyone was like Balthier anyway! Who did he think he was?! "Okay, okay, I'll- I'll do it." He said.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Ashe smiled. "Alright, Balthier, you go pretend to be a customer. Vaan, take Balthier's order and then give him the order. Sound easy enough?"

Balthier stood up and walked over to Vaan. "Don't worry; I'm not going to act like the worst customer." With that being said, Balthier moved over to the glass doors.

Vaan nodded to Ashe and he looked at Balthier, annoyed. '_What a bastard._' He thought. '_He better not act like that._' Vaan moved towards the counter. Ashe moved to a table and turned to Balthier once she sat down in one of the chairs. She nodded once she saw that Vaan was ready to take an order. With her signal, Balthier strode up to Vaan and stood on the other side of the counter. Vaan took in a deep breath, ready to take the order.

"Okay, can I get a large iced mocha coffee with extra whipped cream and caramel, filled half way with 2% milk, and with chocolate chips pieces in it and a slice of red velvet cake?" Balthier asked, smiling.

'… _Oh dear Etro… is this guy serious?_' Vaan thought.

Balthier waited for Vaan and looked down at his phone. "I'm in a rush, can I get my drink and cake?" he asked.

Vaan wasn't sure what to say and he simply looked at Ashe. She watched with interest and was simply waiting for Vaan as well. '_This isn't fair! This seriously isn't fair! What the hell! Are you kidding me?!_' Vaan cleared his throat. "T-that'll be $5.75." he said. '_Okay… so far so good. That _is_ the right cost… right? Oh shit, please tell me I'm right!_'

Balthier shook his head and Ashe stood up. She walked over to Vaan and Balthier moved out of her way. She shook her head and sighed. Ashe did believe that Vaan could do it, but that did not seem to be the case. She found it to be unfortunate.

"No, try again. That's not right." She said.

Ashe was willing to wait until Vaan was able to get the order right. She didn't care how long it took him- as long as he would be able to do his job. Vaan felt embarrassed. He knew that he wasn't able to get the order. Vaan refrained from sighing again and instead nodded to her, indicating that he understood. Ashe turned to Balthier and moved away again.

"Okay, let's try again! And this time, try to get it right, alright?" Ashe said. Vaan muttered an 'okay' and took in another deep breath.

Balthier waited patiently for a moment, thinking up an order and once he got one, he moved closer to the counter. Vaan waited uncomplainingly (well he couldn't to begin with) behind the counter.

"Can I get iced red velvet drink with 2% milk, little ice, extra syrup, and one red velvet slice with extra cream cheese frosting with a strawberry and a cherry on top? Oh, and don't put any raspberries!" Balthier said. Vaan stared at the other man in annoyance.

'_Are you freaking kidding me?!_' Vaan yelled in his mind. '_What's wrong with this guy?!_' Vaan turned to look at Ashe and she was biting her lip and shaking slightly. '_Oh my God she's enjoying this…_' Vaan fought an urge to sigh again. "Is red velvet the only thing you eat? Seriously, come on." He said, annoyed. Balthier shook his head and sighed dramatically.

"That's beside the point! And does it really matter? Anyway, you're not supposed to argue with the customer. Don't be rude to the customer. and I have excellent taste. Anything with red velvet tastes delicious. " Balthier retorted. At that moment, Ashe stood up again and stopped the two from arguing any further. She moved over so that she was between both of them.

"I'm not being rude to a customer, I'm being rude to you." Vaan retorted, annoyed.

"I'm a customer in this! Don't make excuses!" Balthier shot back.

"I'm not making excuses; I'm just saying the truth!"

"That's not how you treat a customer!"

"You're not a real customer!"

"In this case, I am. Will you stop being so irritating and just do what I say?"

"What I'm not-"

"Cut it out, both of you!" she yelled. Goodness, how could they argue so much over something so little?! Ashe didn't even know, but she wasn't in the mood to listen to the two. She turned to face Vaan. "He's right, you can't argue with the customer, no matter how much they annoy you! Believe me, I understand. But you can't tell the customers what's wrong with their order or their strange-"

"Hey!" Balthier interjected.

Ashe smiled at Balthier and turned back to Vaan, "…Strange tastes." She continued.

"I resent that." Balthier said to Ashe. He turned back to Vaan, "And I made it pretty easy for you, you know." Balthier returned. Balthier got a heated glare from Vaan as a response. Balthier responded with a smirk and that only aggravated Vaan even more. Vaan turned back to Ashe.

"But-"Vaan began.

Ashe shook her head. "Let's try again, alright?" she asked.

Vaan let another sigh escape his lips. "Yeah, alright…."

Ashe smiled and moved back to the chair she sat in before and waited for the two men to continue.

"Right, so… I wanted an iced red velvet drink with 2% milk, little ice, extra syrup, and one red velvet slice with extra cream cheese frosting with a strawberry and cherry on top? I don't want any raspberries at all." Balthier ordered.

Vaan said nothing for a moment, heeding Ashe's words and simply smiled instead. '_Oh I'll get your damn raspberries all right..._' Vaan cleared his throat. "That'll be $4.75" he said. Balthier looked at Ashe and she shook her head once more.

"Try again." Ashe replied quietly.

Balthier spoke up another time, "Yeah, can I get a chocolate Frappuccino with extra caramel and extra chocolate whipped cream with whole milk. Oh, and a slice of red velvet cake with extra frosting with absolutely no raspberries. I want a strawberry and a cherry on it."

Ashe was, at that point, giggling openly. She couldn't help but be so amused by this. She was itching to tell Vaan that the majority of the customers didn't even act like Balthier except perhaps one or two. But other than that, it wasn't so much of a big deal.

'_Okay, I give up. I literally just give up. I'll your fucking raspberries; alright. You're so lucky Ashe is here._' Vaan thought. He cleared his throat. "Right, that'll be $3.95." he said, absentmindedly. Balthier and Ashe looked at each other and Ashe grinned widely. She stood up one last time and sauntered over to Vaan.

"You did it! You got it right! I'm sure you'll get a better hang of things now!" she said, happily.

Vaan looked up suddenly when Ashe spoke up. "W-what…?"

She laughed, "I said you got it right! Let's try again a few more time and I guess you'll be okay from then on, yeah?"

Vaan scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. Maybe it wouldn't be _too_ bad from then on. And the best part about that was that it took Vaan another few hours to get it right, but by the end, Vaan had gotten everything down and was almost good to go. He knew that Lightning would be proud of him and that he was actually putting in effort to maintain the job (as much as he didn't want to). Ashe had given him the uniform. Of course, Vaan did wonder why the café uniform for him and Balthier was fancy (considering the fact that she gave him a crisp white dress shirt, black dress pants and a black vest). Vaan figured it didn't matter since it was Ashe's café to begin with. She could do whatever she wanted. And during the time after, his work schedule was all figured out and everything seemed to work out well (except for the one fact that he and Balthier managed to have similar work schedules… damn that man). Vaan wasn't too glad about the whole ordeal at all. It was all finally over and Vaan could relax. However, as he walked back home, all he could think about how annoying that was. '_It's not fair, it's just not fair!_'

When Vaan finally arrived home, all he could think about was just sitting down and playing his video games. He just needed to relax and then he could just forget about the whole thing. However, his hopes vanished into thin air when he saw the annoying brat, Hope playing his games. '_Don't Vaan, just don't._' he thought. He sighed quietly instead. "I'm home!" he yelled.

Hope turned around to face Vaan right after he paused the game. The little brat looked smug as he stared at Vaan. "Hey! Oh you know I found something really cool!" Hope said. Vaan glared at the ten year old boy in irritation.

"What did you find?" Vaan asked. He took his sneakers off, left them by the door and walked toward the couch where Hope sat.

"I found this!" Hope said happily. He shoved Vaan's driver's license in Vaan's face. Vaan looked terrible in that picture as he was frowning in annoyance and his eyes were very sleepy. In short- Vaan looked like he was too cranky for words. Hope grinned at Vaan and waited for Vaan to say something.

It took a moment for Vaan to say something as he registered the fact that Hope had his driver's license. '_I thought I lost that! Where did the kid even find that?! Wait no, I need that back!_' He thought. The corner of Vaan's mouth twitched in annoyance. "Give it to me." He commanded.

A simple word left Hope's mouth, "No."

Vaan wasn't in the mood for this. "Give it to me _now_."

Hope smiled, "No way! I found it, so it's mine from now on."

"No it's not. Give me my license back."

"Never in your life, I'm keeping this!"

"Give it to me you little brat!" Vaan yelled as he tried to get his card back.

Hope laughed loudly and jumped off the couch. He began to run and Vaan began to chase after the cheeky brat. "You're not getting this!"

"I'm gonna get you, you little brat!" Vaan yelled. And it was in that moment the door slammed at Vaan was able to finally get his card back and he laughed in triumph.

"You're going to do what, Vaan?" Lightning asked. Vaan could hear the annoyance in her voice. He turned around to face her and Hope ran over to Lightning, hugging her.

"He said he was going to get me! I don't know why, he just did!" Hope said.

"What! That's not true-"Vaan began.

Lightning narrowed her eyes, "Vaan, stop tormenting Hope! You should know better than to make threats! I don't want to hear another word!"

"But-"

"Not another word."

Vaan sighed loudly, "Fine." He sulked back into his room, harboring a growing hatred for the god damned cheeky little brat named Hope.


	5. The Sighing Virus

A/N: Corny jokes are great. Corny jokes are wonderful. We like corny jokes. And food… but mostly corny jokes. Sorry we haven't updated in quite a while! College was making us both busy with papers and work and all. D: We also want to thank you for all your wonderful reviews again! You are all so lovely and it really makes us happy

A thought actually occurred to us one day. What if all of the main characters in this one story had theme songs? Fai and I actually came up with a few just for shits and giggles (mostly just for giggles though) and we'd love to hear your suggestions too! C:

Lightning: _Wannabe_ by the Spice Girls

Vaan: _Fergalicious _by Fergie

Kain: _Sexy and I Know It_ by LMFAO

Balthier: _Sexy Back_ by Justin Timberlake

Tifa: _Touch my Body_ by Mariah Carey

Cloud: _I Just Had Sex _by the Lonely Island

PS: Lighting is _such_ a tsundere.

PPS: WE OWN NOTHING!

PPPS: I'm gonna stop talking now.

Chapter Five: _The Sighing Virus_

Lightning was so ready to leave her office at work at that point. Her hair was even coming loose from the bun and she wasn't happy about that either. She took pride in her appearance! The fact that she even ran around the office and back for some notes regarding Hope's case wasn't helping. Lightning was even halfway out the door when the phone on her desk began ringing and the caller id made her even more frustrated.

'_Call from: Caius Ballad_' the phone's voice called out.

Lightning sighed loudly. She wasn't going to get a break anytime soon. She stomped back to her desk, put the keys on the desk and picked up the receiver. Sure enough, Caius was on the other line, irritated.

"Farron, where are the notes? I need them now." Ballad began.

"I told you already and for the last damn time, I left the damn notes on your desk." Lightning replied.

"They're not on my desk. I need them for the case!" Ballad said.

"I know you do! Just check again!" Lighting said, irritated.

"Oh… here they are. Alright, thanks, I suppose."

Lightning rolled her eyes at Ballad's sarcastic tone. "Finally… now if you can excuse me, I'm going home to relax. It was a great talk, Ballad. But I have a life to get back to."

With that said, Lightning put the receiver down with a click. Grabbing her keys once again, Lightning exited the office and locked it up. She made her way to the car and once she was in, she started it up and drove back home. Once she arrived at the apartment, Lightning kicked off her shoes and sat down on the couch, ready to relax for the rest of the day. All few of those weeks caused Lightning to become even more stressed when the entire case regarding Hope's mother escalated and she had to start getting everything ready to defend Hope's father. She couldn't help but pity the young boy over and over again during the weeks. The ten-year-old was even growing on her. She couldn't say the same for a certain blond, however. The second she sat down, Vaan walked over to Lightning, annoyed. '_Oh boy… here we go._' She thought.

"Lightning, I've had it! When is that brat going back?" Vaan asked, irritation written on his face.

She sighed loudly, "I don't know. He's going to stay here as long as he needs to."

"Are you serious?! You don't know how long? I'm going to lose my mind at this rate. He keeps messing with my stuff! I even had all my games and other stuff organized alphabetically and by what I play most. He- he just goes and messes up all my hard work! The brat even took my driver's license again!" Vaan ranted.

"Then maybe you should stop making it so easy for him to take."

Vaan made a noise of aggravation.

"You weren't any different than he was when you were his age." Lightning pointed out.

Vaan was just about to respond when the door opened up with Serah and Snow on the other side.

Serah stepped in immediately, looking nervous and Snow trailed on after her, looking as well, as he normally did (which Lightning 'affectionately' dubbed the 'idiot face'). Snow slammed the door to close it and Lightning and Vaan both sighed at that. Serah slowly walked her way towards Lightning and Vaan and Snow stood next to her, a smile on his face.

"Hey… sis… I have to tell you something." Serah said, nervously. She looked at Lightning with pleading eyes and Lightning stared at Serah. Serah began to play with the ends of her hair and she started twirling her hair around her index finger as she hoped that Lightning would listen.

"Oh God don't tell me you're pregnant with Snow's child." Lightning mumbled. '_Please don't let it be that, dear god don't let it be that._' She thought.

Snow turned to Lightning, hurt. Apparently his ears picked up on Lightning's mumbling. "Hey! What's wrong with Serah having my kid?" he asked.

Vaan and Lightning looked at each other and turned back to Snow. "Everything." The two replied, simultaneously.

Anything was better than having to deal with a child that was just like Snow in so many ways. Vaan could tolerate Snow more than Lightning could, but even he was irritated at times at the older blond man. Vaan could really understand how Lightning was irritated by Snow. Snow looked at Vaan and Lightning, exasperated and defeated. Snow figured his child (he wasn't even sure if he wanted one) would have his good looks. Snow wasn't _too_ conceited but he knew that he looked good and his child would really inherit the good looks from both parents (but he still wasn't sure if he wanted a child).

"Well, get to the point already." Lightning demanded.

"Right, um… you see… "Serah began, as she brushed some of her light pink bangs out of her eyes, "Snow is going to stay here for the time being until the wedding. I figured you guys needed to get to know him more."

Lightning said nothing for a moment. She blinked twice and stood up suddenly, not caring that she got an instant head rush. "No. Absolutely not. I am not letting this idiot stay here. There isn't any space for this idiot in this apartment." She shouted.

"That's why we were going to stay at the other house!" Serah replied.

"I pay for both of these places! Why does he have to stay with us? The answer is **no**."

"Oh come on, Lightning! Cloud and Tifa come over whenever they want. So why can't Snow stay here?" Serah asked.

"For one thing, they aren't as irritating as this idiot." Lightning replied.

"Lightning, you've got to let him stay! Besides, it'll only be for two months. I'll make sure he doesn't make a mess and everything, I promise." Serah pleaded.

Lightning knew for a fact that Serah wasn't going to give up without a fight. She really did not want Snow living with her and she already had so much to deal with. Lightning was quickly getting tired of arguing and even more exhausted by letting the arguments escalate. She sighed loudly and rubbed her tired eyes.

"Fine, he can stay. He **better** not make a mess out of my house. I expect everything to be clean and spotless as I left it." Lightning said, tiredly. At that point, she had given up. All she wanted to do was relax and be left alone for the time being.

"Man… I can't get a break at all today!" Lightning mumbled.

Serah, sighed as she heard Lightning mumble. She wrapped her arms around dear, dear Lightning gently and let go a moment later.

"I'm sorry, Lightning! I really am." Serah said. She had to get Lightning's mind off of the fact that Snow was going to live with them now. She thought of a good idea and it would be best to get a head start on planning for the wedding anyway. "Oh, Lightning! We have to go shopping for the wedding! I need my wedding dress and you need your maid of honor dress. I really want you to be up and ready to go tomorrow." Serah said. "Don't worry! Tifa will be there too."

'_Oh kill me now.'_ Lightning thought. Tifa was one of the few people that Lightning did not want to deal with as much as she adored the black haired woman. They were practically sisters but Tifa could sometimes be a bit… much. Especially since the last time that Lightning and Tifa hung out one day, Tifa managed to singlehandedly embarrass, aggravate and upset both of them in the course of a mere twenty minutes. That certain incident was never to be mentioned by either one of them (but let's just say that an issue arose when Tifa encountered a pair of pink fuzzy handcuffs). They agreed it was never to be spoken of in the presence of anyone and it was never to be spoken in the presence of each other either. Lightning remembered that incident and every time she did, she hoped that it would never surface again and that it would remain inside the vault of memories that was never to be opened. That hope was never fulfilled for either of them.

Lightning said nothing as she looked at Serah tiredly. Serah walked over to the table where her small black purse sat and once she took it, she walked over to Snow. He waited for her at the doorway and once she was right next to him, he took her hand.

"Anyway, I have to go. I'll see you later, okay?" Serah asked.

"See you later, Serah." Vaan said as she smiled and waved goodbye to him.

Lightning and Vaan watched as Serah leave with Snow. He made his way to the couch and plopped down onto the cushiony seats.

"Wow Light. I didn't expect you to give in so easily." Vaan said.

"I'm too exhausted to deal with anything today. All I want to do is relax." Lightning replied.

"Well back to the topic on hand…" Vaan began, before he was interrupted by Lightning.

"Vaan… just go, please. I'm not in the mood to discuss this with you."

"But… Light, come on! Just hear me out."

"I don't want to hear any but's! Go play your games or something."

Vaan stood up and moved to face Lightning. "Come on, please?"

"No means no, Vaan, can't you understand that?"

"Fine, but this isn't the last you heard of me!" Vaan shouted dramatically as he walked backwards towards his room. He gave up; there wasn't any point to continue to pester Lightning. She clearly wasn't in the mood to listen to him or anyone in general. Lightning simply rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Go away, Vaan." She replied, annoyed.

With that said, Lightning got up and walked back to her room to sleep, exhausted from the day's events.

That very next day, Lightning signed as she pinned her hair up in a bun. She wasn't in the mood to go dress shopping (she actually dreaded it… only because Serah took even longer that Lightning did herself and that was actually saying something). She heard the door in the living room open and immediately assumed that it was Tifa. There were times that Lightning regretted giving Tifa a key (since the other women came and went into Lightning's home all willy-nilly).

"What are you doing?" Vaan asked.

'_Huh, guess Tifa isn't coming over.' _Lightning thought. She paused for a moment. _'Wait… what's Vaan doing here? Ugh, that idiot! He should be at the café right now! What the hell is he doing?!' _Lightning signed and pinned the rest of her pink hair up. She left her room and stormed into the living room, ready to berate Vaan over his lack of responsibility (as usual). She stopped in her tracks, however when she saw a familiar blond haired man enter her living room, make his way into the kitchen and begin to mix two drinks (as to which Lightning had no idea of).

"I know what I'm doing!" Kain called out from the kitchen.

Lightning couldn't believe what was going on. One, being that Vaan wasn't at work (well actually, she could believe that). And the second point being … Kain had entered her home like he lived there and was even making something in her kitchen!

'_Am I missing something here?' _she thought. _'How does Vaan even know Kain to begin with? How does Kain know Vaan? Wait… what if Tifa is responsible for this? Is she even responsible for this? Damn it." _Lightning walked up to Kain, who was standing by the kitchen table.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. Lightning turned back to Vaan, who, was sitting down on the couch armrest.

"Vaan, tell me why Kain is here. And why aren't you at work?" she shouted, glaring at him.

'_Dammit, I thought she already left with Tifa and Serah. I must have miscalculated… or something'_ Vaan thought. '_Oh wait… Tifa was downstairs for like a second though…_'

"So... the thing is… it's Ashe's birthday today and she decided to close the café for the day." Vaan replied. _'Wow, Vaan. That is literally one of the worst excuses you could ever use on Lightning. ' _He thought. "And Kain is here because I met him downstairs and he asked to come up and I thought it was fine!" Vaan continued. _'Real smooth Vaan… real smooth.'_

"You two are friends?" Lightning asked, while raising a pink eyebrow.

"Yeah, we are…" Vaan started, not sure if Lightning approved or such a thing.

Lightning thought for a moment, genuinely curious as to how Kain met her brother. But their sudden friendship wasn't the main issue at hand; the main issue was that Vaan wasn't at work! She had an idea though…

"So Vaan, you wouldn't mind me calling up the café to wish Ashe happy birthday?" Lightning said. She walked over to the phone and dialing the number for Ashe's café from the business card that Vaan carelessly left next to the phone from the last time he called.

Before Vaan could protest, Lightning began cheerfully, "Hello, Ashe? I have a question, is Vaan supposed to be at work today?"

Vaan could hear Ashe's voice on the other line clearly. He began to back away slowly as soon as he saw Lightning become irritated (more so).

"Oh! He called in sick today?" Lightning asked, as she turned to face Vaan. She glared at him and Vaan stopped walking backwards at that instant. "Well, you know Ashe; he's feeling a whole lot better now. In fact, he's great! He's better that he can even go back to work today."

Vaan gulped, knowing that he was defeated.

"I see, alright. He'll wait at home here." Lightning said and she proceeded to give Ashe the address.

"Um, can I just say that… you look really pretty today?" Vaan asked, nervously. '_Seriously Vaan? That's the best you can come up with?_' he thought. '_You're losing your touch!_'

Lightning rolled her eyes and turned to face the door when the bell rang. She glanced at Vaan, annoyed and walked to the door, opened it and was face to face with Balthier. Lightning let out a deep breath through her nose and opened the door wider to let Balthier in, who was thoroughly annoyed. Lightning crossed her arms and watched as Balthier nodded to her in thanks and then storm towards Vaan. Vaan looked like he was about to bolt out of there (which he began to do as he turned around). Balthier stretched out his arm and immediately grabbed Vaan's collar, turned around and started dragging Vaan back. Lightning could distinctly hear Balthier voice as he yelled at her brother.

"On the one day we get the most customers… you- you decide to be an idiot and play hooky from work?! I've been going crazy with orders and managed to mess up like you! What the hell, Vaan? You're going back now!" Balthier yelled.

"H-hey, let go of me, you freak! I'm eighteen years old, I do not need this!" Vaan yelled.

"Stop being such a baby! Stop acting like a jackass!" Balthier shouted back.

"Who are you calling jackass, jackass?!"

"I'm calling you one, idiot!"

Vaan stopped arguing with Balthier for a second and turned back to Lightning.

"No…! Lightning are you not going to help me?" he asked.

She shook her head and shouted a clear and distinct "No!"

"Fine you'll pay for this. You'll all pay!" Vaan yelled back. Balthier stopped dragging Vaan for a second and took that opportunity to hit Vaan on the head.

"What was that for, you jerk?!" Vaan shouted.

"For being a complete and utter idiot." Balthier responded.

Lightning could hear their bickering until they finally entered the elevator of the apartment building and left. She sighed again, and rubbed her face with her hand. God, she was so tired. She closed the door softly and went to face Kain, as she leaned against the door.

"That wasn't strange at all." Kain said, sarcastically. "Definitely not strange at all." he added on.

Lightning stared at Kain, annoyed. "You know, you can leave now."

"No, actually I was thinking I'd, you know, chill with you."

"Or, you know, not." She said. Lightning tucked away a loose strand of pink hair and crossed her arms. "How do you know my brother, anyway?"

Kain thought for a second. "It's a long story." He said.

"I got time." She replied. She stopped leaning her weight against the door, uncrossed her arms and moved over to the couch. She sat down, leaned back and crossed her arms and legs. "Explain."

Kain rolled his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. "Fine, I met Vaan at the café he works at. Tifa and I were going there as usual and Tifa introduced us. That's the short version." Kain could actually remember the whole ordeal. The second that Vaan had seen them, he immediately assumed that Tifa was cheating on Cloud (which made no sense to Kain since Tifa and Cloud were still so crazy about each other). It was actually rather hilarious to see Tifa so frustrated and annoyed. Apparently, only Vaan was able to irritate Tifa and that actually took a lot of talent especially since she was the most patient out of everyone. Kain almost laughed as he remembered how hilarious that was.

"Fine, don't tell me the whole thing. I don't understand why you're still here, though." she replied. Lightning did want to hear the whole story, but she doubted that she would even get the entire thing if she asked Kain. '_I'll have to ask Vaan about it, I guess._' She thought. Finally the door opened, but this time revealing Tifa and Serah. The two came inside and Serah closed the door as Tifa went up to Kain and Lightning, smiling.

"Hey Lightning and Kain!" Tifa greeted, happily. "What's going on? I hope I'm not interrupting anything here."

Lightning looked at Tifa suspiciously, "No… nothing happened. It's not like anything would happen to begin with. What are you two doing here anyway?"

"Well, we were waiting for you, but you didn't come down. We did see Vaan being dragged away by his coworker, though. Did Vaan do something?" Tifa asked. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. We need to go."

Serah bounced up to the three. "Hey, maybe Kain can come with us!" she suggested.

Kain smiled and Lightning scowled. "Yes." He said. "No." Lightning added, their voices speaking at the same time.

"You are not coming." Lightning growled.

Lightning crossed her arms and glared at Kain. She was absolutely not okay with Kain tagging along to go _dress shopping_ out of everything. She turned to Serah and gave her sister a death glare. She wanted to ask Serah if she was insane for suggesting such a thing, but Lightning made no attempt to do so. Serah looked at Lightning for a second, feeling Lightning's glare burn into the fiber of her being.

"I've decided that I will go and besides your sister invited me. I'm sure that Tifa doesn't mind my presence either. So I am coming, Miss Thunder." Kain replied, a smug smile on his face.

"Fine, then I refuse to go. And you," Lightning shifted her attention back to Kain, "my name is Lightning, not Thunder. Got it, "Dragon?" she asked.

"Oh please, Lightning you have to come! Don't complain." Serah whined.

"Ugh, fine I'll go! I hate you all." Lightning uncrossed her arms and she stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door as soon as she got out.

Tifa and Kain followed suit. Serah locked up and they all went on their way to the dress store Serah picked out beforehand (though honestly Kain ended up regretting his decision to go with them after they took more than thirty minutes and had to wonder why women took so long shopping). He didn't care about the dresses honestly. Although there was one dark purple dress that reached to Lightning's knees and was draped around one shoulder. It was just too bad that she hated it. Lightning managed to endure the entire experience, even when Kain was irritating her the whole time (in her opinion), even when Tifa made Lightning try out more than fifteen dresses (honestly, she felt like Tifa's dress up doll) and even when Serah almost gave up looking for the perfect dress (which she did find in the end). Lightning wasn't sure how long the shopping took place, but according to Kain, it had been more than three hours and Lightning was ready to collapse, go home and simply call it a day. Once they were all finally home, Lightning immediately dropped the bags next to the couch, plopped down on the couch and sighed loudly, relieved.

"Ugh, finally I'm home." she said. Lightning picked up the remote for the television, turned the TV on and began flipping through the channels. She flipped through the channels until she finally decided on a documentary about aliens from another planet that visited the earth hundreds of years ago and helped the ancient people with monuments and statues (it wasn't like she was paying attention). Serah dropped the bags in her room and took the ones Lightning left and dropped those in Lightning's room as well. Serah sat down on the couch next to Lightning.

"So Lightning, I invited Kain to have lunch with us tomorrow. Why don't you be nice to him for once? He's been nothing but nice to you." Serah suggested.

"… Of course you would Serah.

I'll go to the lunch but one for thing, I hold no promises on being nice and second, how is he being nice when all that he's done is irritate me?" Lightning responded. "Whatever, fine."

Serah simply looked at Lightning, studying her for a moment and patted the elder sister's hand. She turned to the TV and began watching the documentary as well. In all that time, Hope had been messing around with Vaan's video games (where he actually decided to overwrite Vaan's save files with his own). Hope had been downstairs in the kitchen (after Vaan's best friend Terra baby sat him for the day) getting a cookie when he overheard Serah tell Lightning that Kain was invited to eat lunch with them. A plan quickly formulated in Hope's mind. _He was going to mess up Kain's day with Lightning. The man was an annoyance to Hope especially and the man kept making Lightning angry. Blondie wasn't going to last._

That very next day (Friday to be exact), Kain got dressed that morning, ready for the lunch that was to spend with Lightning and Serah. He did go out of his way to buy a few éclairs for Lightning as it was her favorite baked good (the information was 'discreetly' supplied by Serah). It took him some time and he was almost running late by the time he was able to pick up the éclairs, but he managed to reach the Farron household (the actual house) in time. Kain took a while getting inside the house as he stared at the house for quite some time once he realized that the house was oddly shaped as a peanut. He had to wonder if it was just him who noticed that (he hoped not). He took in a deep breath and knocked on the front door. It was Serah who opened the door and she smiled brightly, ushering him into the home. Serah closed the door behind him and Kain looked around the house, taking in all the furniture, the various picture frames and the oil paintings that hung on the pale blue walls.

"What's in the bag?" Serah asked, once she came up to him.

Kain smiled, "I picked up a few éclairs for you guys. Should I put these in the kitchen?"

"Yeah, that's fine. The kitchen is right here to your left." Serah replied. She smiled again and once she saw Kain enter the kitchen, she went off to get Lightning out of her room and into the living room to greet Kain.

Kain stepped into the kitchen and set both the bag and box on the kitchen counter. He took the box out and set it on top of the bag. Once he did that, Kain left the kitchen and walked back into the living room, where he saw Lightning and Serah waiting for him. Lightning sat on the couch with her legs crossed while the other two siblings stood by the eldest sister. Kain sat down next to Lightning and tried to start a conversation, only to be given a sarcastic comment as to which Serah berated Lightning. It was at that moment when the lock on the door turned and Vaan stepped into the house, carrying a large pink and cream colored bag. He laughed nervously and with a quick apology for being late, made his way to the kitchen. Vaan stopped in his tracks however, when he saw Hope enter the kitchen. Vaan narrowed his eyes at the little brat. He watched as Hope open the refrigerator door, grab a bottle of extra hot sauce, close the door and unfold the white box that held the éclairs. Hope took off the cap of the hot sauce and began pouring a liberal amount onto the éclairs.

'_That… god dammed kid! I knew he was trouble from the start!_' Vaan thought. Vaan continued to watch as Hope poured the hot sauce on the éclairs. Once Hope was done, he put the cap on the hot sauce again and put the bottle back into the refrigerator. Hope didn't seem to notice Vaan watching. He snuck out of the kitchen and went back into his makeshift room.

'_I can't believe the brat actually did that…_'

Vaan sighed and went into the kitchen and set the box that he brought from Ashe's café on the counter as well. He took the box out of the pink and cream colored bag and set it down. He then picked up the box that held the sabotaged éclairs, set it underneath the kitchen table, where it was hidden by the white tablecloth. Vaan then took his box and made sure that it looked like the box was completely untouched. Vaan hadn't actually planned to bring baked goods from Ashe's café, but decided to when he really wanted to eat a few of the baked goods. He even brought some strawberry cupcakes for Serah, cinnamon buns for himself and even several éclairs for Lightning and all he wanted to do honestly, was to devour everything in plain sight without a care in the world. Vaan then exited the kitchen and went back into the living room where the other three were still speaking and Lightning looked like she was loosening up a bit.

"Sorry I was late, guys." Vaan spoke up.

Serah turned to Vaan first, "Don't worry about it Vaan! As long as you're here, it's fine." She smiled.

Lightning and Kain turned to Vaan and it was then Kain spoke up, "Wait, I brought some stuff for you guys."

Vaan, Serah and Lightning all looked at each other and it was Lightning that spoke up, "What is it?"

"They're éclairs. They're your favorite, aren't they?" He replied.

Lightning glanced at Serah and she smiled at Lightning. Kain got up, went into the kitchen and without a second thought brought the box into the living room. He placed the box on the coffee table and unfolded the cardboard box. He was surprised himself, however when he saw the strawberry cupcakes and cinnamon buns there alongside the éclairs. "Uh…" he began, not so eloquent.

Vaan, who was sitting on the arm rest, spoke up. "Oh, right, I forgot to say thanks, Kain for getting the cinnamon buns and the cupcakes for me and Serah."

'_You're welcome._' Vaan thought.

Kain laughed sheepishly, playing it along. "Yeah, no problem Vaan."

Lightning couldn't honestly believe it. Kain bothered to try and impress her and the interesting part was… it worked. The fact that Kain even bothered to pick up something for Vaan and Serah when Vaan was not able to, impressed Lightning more so. Perhaps Kain wasn't as bad as he seemed when they first met. She looked at him for a moment and quickly looked at the box instead. Vaan rolled his eyes and walked around the couch so that he was on Kain's left side. Vaan picked up a cinnamon bun from the box and began eating it.

"Vaan, could you please pass me a cupcake?" Serah asked. Vaan nodded and swallowed the morsel of the cinnamon bun. He reached into the box again, picked up a strawberry cupcake and passed it over to Serah.

"Lightning, don't you want an éclair?" Serah asked. Lightning looked up suddenly and nodded.

"Yeah…" Lightning said, slowly. She glanced over at Kain and it was then she realized that he was a lot closer than she thought beforehand. It wasn't bad… honestly and Lightning uncrossed her legs and once she leaned in to take an éclair, she (might have) purposely let her knee slightly brush against Kain's leg. Once she took a bite of the éclair, Lightning could help but think that the pastry was a lot better than Serah's (though she would never say it out loud for Serah's benefit). Lightning ate carefully, making sure that no crumbs would land on her clothing, her couch or her floors (she had cleaned everything earlier on and she wasn't going to let her hard work go to waste so quickly).

"This is… delicious." Lightning mumbled.

Kain smiled, "Glad you like it." He leaned in just a bit just so that he could have an éclair as well.

Lightning looked away immediately once she noticed that he was closer to her. "Why are you this close to me?" she asked. She hated to admit… but it wasn't _too_ bad. She could deal with it… maybe.

For the next week or so Hope had tried to mess up Kain plans to impress Light. Yet in the end, Hope only managed to make Kain look in a better light instead of making Kain look worse. Hope hoped that his plans would work every time and it was just too bad for Hope that they never went through. Vaan however, was enjoying it as he would be the only one who would actually catch Hope and foil Hope's plans in the end.

Vaan would think to himself every time, _'That's what you get for messing everything up for me. You seriously deserve it, brat_.'

And it was after nearly a month that Kain finally asked Lightning out on a date. It was another Friday and Lighting was still working at Tifa's bar as a waitress. Tifa was simply talking to Cloud and they were laughing (and Lightning even noticed at some point Cloud gently rested his hands on Tifa's belly and even began talking to it). Lightning wiped away the tables during closing time and that was when Kain came up to Lightning and asked her (quite nervously actually) if she wanted to have dinner at his place on Saturday night. And to his surprise… she actually said yes. When it was Saturday night, Serah and Vaan had eventually caught wind of the fact that Lightning was going on a date with Kain and the two couldn't believe it at all (but they supported Lightning for finally going on a date after months of not going on a proper one). Finally, when it was seven o' clock, Kain rang the doorbell and Lightning got up from her waiting spot on the couch. Her little silver colored dress clung to her body and once she got the door and opened, Kain could only stare at her for a while not saying anything until she cleared her throat.

"You look beautiful as always." He said, smiling.

Serah and Vaan watched from their posts in the kitchen and couldn't help but laugh quietly at the two.

Lightning willed herself not to blush and managed to say "Thank you" without stuttering or mumbling.

"Ready to go?" he asked. And once she nodded, Lightning began to leave with Kain (and as soon as she closed the door, she heard Vaan's distinct voice call out 'don't have too much fun!'). Lightning almost turned back just to slap Vaan upside the head. She refrained herself, however and instead she and Kain chatted their way to dinner. Yet just as soon as they began to eat dinner, it was only a matter of time until an interruption would ruin their entire date. The two had already sat down, were comfortable and relaxed until the lock turned and the door opened up. Lightning and Kain immediately turned to the door and Kain was more shocked than Lightning since there was only one other person (besides Tifa but she had her own life at seven o' clock) that had a set of keys to Kain's apartment.

As soon as the door opened, a voice rang out loudly, "Hey Kain just came to see why you told me not to come over…"the man stopped talking as soon as he saw Lightning. He stared at her and she stared at him back in indifference while internally she was practically raging. "What is she doing here?" the man asked.

Lightning said nothing for a moment as she glared at him. She turned to Kain. "How do you know Caius…?" she asked.

Kain sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Dammit Caius… I told you I was on a date."

Caius said nothing and instead smirked.

"How do you two know each other?" Lightning repeated.

Kain turned to Lightning, feeling defeated. "Okay, Lightning, he's my brother… _twin _brother to be exact."

Lightning couldn't find any words to actually articulate her shock. '_Oh dear Etro kill me now._' She thought.

"Lightning?" Caius asked. "Why did you call her Lightning? Her name is Éclair."

Kain looked at Lightning and Caius incredulously. "Your name is _Éclair_?" he asked.

Lightning glared at Caius for a second and faced Kain. "Yes, _Dragon_, my name is Éclair but I would prefer if you called me Lightning."

Caius fought back a laugh. "Did she just call you 'Dragon'?" he asked. "Good God 'Lightning', I assume you know about his profession then. I didn't know you were into that sort of thing." Caius couldn't hold in his laughter anymore and began to laugh loudly. 'Oh… God, this is just too great."

Kain rubbed his face with his hand. Caius ruined everything. Caius made Kain's date a complete failure. Not only was Lightning upset, but Kain was as well and Caius only making it worse by the second. Kain glared at Caius, "She can be into whatever she wants, Caius. It's her life. Cut it out."

Lightning couldn't take more of this. She grabbed her purse, draped it on her shoulder and stood up. "Look Caius, I don't need your idiocy and for once, mind your own business. Kain… goodbye." She said. Lightning made her way to the door. She sighed quietly, opened the door and closed it behind her.

Kain stood up; hurt and angry that the one date he looked forward to was completely ruined by his idiot brother. "Lightning wait-!" he said. But it was too late; Lightning was already out the door and Kain sighed loudly. He turned around and leaned against the door. He ran his hand through his blond hair. "Thanks a lot, Caius. You've ruined everything."

* * *

Lightning felt humiliated. The one time she decided to agree on a date with Kain was the one time where she became too embarrassed for words to describe. She walked back down, trying not to think about the nonsense that occurred earlier. By the time she arrived home, she found Vaan watching some show on TV with the lights off. Lightning turned the lights on, took her silver heels off, and plopped down on the couch on the seat next to Vaan. She leaned her head back and Vaan turned to her.

"You're back early. How was your date?" he asked.

Lightning said nothing for a moment. "Terrible."

"Why, what happened?"

"Let's just say that Kain has a twin brother who just so happens to be my worst enemy."

"He has a brother? Huh, who would've thought…who's your worst enemy?"

Lightning took in a deep breath. "Caius… Caius is his brother."

Vaan turned the volume of the TV down. "You're kidding! Caius is seriously his brother?

Yeah…I'm being serious. I'm not talking about this anymore. Where's Serah?"

"She's in her room. You're gonna talk to her about this?"

"Later, I'm going to bed. 'Night, Vaan." Lightning stood up and walked to her room slowly.

"Yeah… 'Night." Vaan replied, softly. He turned back to the program that he was watching and after a few hours, he turned off the TV and went back into his room to go to sleep and to maybe ask Lightning what else happened during the dinner.


	6. Vaan, the Private Detective

A/N: Well, here's another chapter! Fai and I were planning to get at least two chapters in November. But it seems like we were way too late. Finals were eating up our lives and of course, we were studying like crazy! Plus with Hurricane Sandy hitting us here… it made it worse too. We were safe in our areas, but we couldn't say the same for those in other areas. The damages were terrible and there were so many problems after. It was a terrifying experience and we hope that it never occurs again. So much was lost and so much has happened that everything can't go back to normal for so many people. Many people have lost so much and our hearts go out to them. We sincerely hope that everything is well for all of those without homes, without food or electricity and we hope that everything will be alright.

Anyway, the movie Audition was creepy and disturbing as fuck. Not even kidding! If you guys ever get a chance to see it, you'll see what I mean. I'm pretty sure I couldn't find myself sleeping for about two or so weeks. I did manage to get over it, thankfully. But I don't see myself seeing that movie ever again. Fai found the movie to be disturbing and creepy as well. So unless you're totally into R rated Japanese horror movies… then I suggest you don't watch it (that goes for those who are under 18… don't watch it).

Moving on, we own absolutely nothing! But if we did, we'd certainly show more Kain and Lightning and let Balthier in the game rather than Gabranth… hehehehehehehe.

Right… Moving on…

Chapter Six: _Vaan, the Private Detective_

There were times when Lightning truly wondered if Tifa was feeling alright. She would notice Tifa dashing off into the bar's restrooms clutching her stomach. Lightning would notice this ever so often and she had an immense desire to know what was going on. One day, during the second week of October on that Friday afternoon, Lightning approached Tifa after a few days of observation. Tifa came back from the back of the bar and was then walking towards the bar stools. Lightning took that moment to approach Tifa and question her about her recent behavior. On the counter was a glass of water and underneath it was a napkin. Tifa approached the counter and Lightning made the move to walk all the way in front of Tifa.

"Tifa, we need to talk." Lightning began, as she put the dish rag on the counter.

Tifa turned to Lightning, with a confused look on her face. She brought the glass to her lips, but stopped midway and instead put the glass back down on the counter. "Actually Lighting I don't think it's a good idea-"Tifa stepped away from the counter and made a dash towards the women's restroom with while clutching her stomach and one hand covered her mouth.

Lightning was confused- what was wrong with Tifa?! She followed after Tifa, rushing along to the restroom and she was quickly welcomed by the sound of vomit leaving the mouth. One of the stall doors was left completely open while the others were almost closed. Lightning looked around and she quickly found Tifa leaving the one stall while still covering her mouth with one hand. Tifa walked to the sink to clean herself from the stench. Lightning took that moment to question Tifa.

"What's going on here, Tifa? This is about the fifth time this week I've seen you make a mad dash toward the bathroom, and then come back out frustrated and tired. Not only that, but you've also been… so irritated lately." Lightning asked.

Tifa looked at Lightning for a second and let her eyes drop down to the tiles of the bathroom. "Lightning, it's nothing. I'm fine, alright?" she waved it off.

"No, it's not. Stop being ridiculous and just tell me what's going on. Are you sick?"

"I'm not sick, Lightning. I'm fine!"

"Dammit, Tifa just tell me what's going on!" Lightning insisted. "I'm not an idiot and I don't understand why you're taking me for one. I saw _and_ heard Cloud talking to your stomach earlier today and before that too– you're pregnant aren't you?"

Tifa nodded and let a small smile grace her face, "Yeah, I am." Tifa moved her hands so that they rested gently on her belly. "I'm pregnant." She added softly.

Lightning smiled softly and looked at Tifa for a moment. "I don't understand, though. Why were you trying to hide it?"

"Cloud and I wanted to wait until we were sure I was pregnant before announcing it. I guess it's too late for that now that you found out."

"Wait a second– Cloud knew and he still let you work here?"

Tifa rolled her eyes, "Lightning, I'm not so weak that I need to lay around doing nothing the whole day. Cloud and I talked about this. I'll be working for three months and then I'll slowly be taking off days from then."

"Tifa, are you sure?"

"Yes, I am completely sure about this."

"You still shouldn't be working right now! I'm going to give Cloud a piece of my mind!" Lightning turned around and stormed off, looking for him.

"Lightning that's not necessary-!" Tifa was cut off when Lightning stormed her way to Cloud, who was chatting with Laguna on one of the black leather sofas. Tifa rolled her eyes and followed after Lightning. By the time Tifa arrived, Lightning was arguing with Cloud and he was calmly explaining the situation. Lightning wasn't listening and Tifa knew she had to intervene.

"I can't believe you're letting Tifa work while you know she's pregnant!" Lightning yelled.

Laguna looked up to Lightning in confusion, "Tifa's pregnant?" Lightning and Cloud ignored Laguna's question.

"She wanted to continue working for three months! That was what we decided on! You honestly think I want her working right now too? I would rather have her relaxing than anything. Besides, knowing Tifa, did you honestly think she was going to leave the bar?" Cloud asked. "Let's be real, Lightning. You know Tifa as well as I do."

Lightning glared at Cloud. She knew he was right. Tifa took that opportunity to sit down on the couch next to Cloud and break the conversation. She took Cloud's hand and clasped it with hers. She leaned on Cloud. "Lightning, Cloud's right. We spoke on this together and we're going with our decision."

Lightning stared at the two sitting in front of her. "Are you going to tell everyone else?"

"Yeah, we might just announce it after movie night or something. Okay, now get back to work." Tifa grinned.

Lightning let a small smirk sneak it's way to her lips, "Whatever, Tifa."

Lightning walked back to the counter where she left the dish rag on the counter. Picking up the slightly dirty rag, Lightning went back to cleaning the tables. Tifa stared at her and Cloud's hands. Tifa grasped his hand tighter for a second before letting his hand go.

"We're really going to have to announce this, aren't we?" Tifa asked. "Who does Lightning think she is?"

"Tifa, calm down, everyone knows how she is. Besides, we were going to tell everyone soon anyway. We might as well just get it over with." Cloud replied.

Tifa replied with a sigh, "Yeah… you're right."

* * *

Everyone was gathered at Lightning's home for their usual movie night. Vaan and Lightning couldn't stop arguing about the movie they were all going to watch. Serah sighed, she was so used to this and Snow found himself to be very amused by Lightning and Vaan's bickering. Serah never cared what movie they were all going to watch and neither did Snow as long it was entertaining. Snow and Serah sat down on the floor with pillows propped for their backs and a soft plush blanket for them to sit on. Tifa and Cloud were simply sitting down on the couch, waiting for the two siblings to agree on a movie. They were used to it. Hope was having a sleep over at Terra's home (Terra hated going to movie night when Vaan and Lightning were choosing the movie). Yet there was only one person who wasn't and that was Kain. He sat on the couch as well, wondering if Lightning and Vaan always argued about watching a simple movie.

"I want to watch Forrest Gump!" Vaan yelled.

"We've seen that movie ten times already!" Lightning shouted back. "We're sick and tired of it!"

"You can't get sick and tired of a classic!" he retorted.

"I don't care! We're watching Audition!" Lightning shoved the DVD cover in his face.

Kain decided to ignore them. He turned to Tifa. "Hey, are they always like this?" he asked.

"Believe it or not, they are. This usually happens. It's rare to see them agree on a movie and the one time they did… let's just say that the rest of us had nightmares for weeks because they chose a horror movie." Tifa replied.

Kain said nothing for a moment. "… It was that bad?"

Cloud nodded, "Yeah, it was. They teamed up against the rest of us when we mentioned that we haven't watched a horror movie in so long."

Kain couldn't find words to respond to that. Instead he simply asked, "So how long does it usually take for them to decide?"

"It depends on what they want to watch." Cloud said. "Well… today, it would probably take more than hour since Vaan doesn't want a horror movie and Lightning does. We don't want to watch either, but they're not going to listen to us."

Kain sighed and leaned back into the sofa. His girlfriend was really something (yes, girlfriend). The few weeks after that one failed date made Kain only more determined to have a date that ended on a successful note. Lightning had actually been willing to give Kain a second chance (after much nagging from Tifa, Vaan and Serah). That second dinner date was lovely (in Serah's words after Lightning told her and Vaan what happened) and the third movie date was actually fun and adorable (according to Tifa after Lightning explained how everything went down). There were even times when Lightning wondered if Tifa, Vaan and Serah wanted to go out with Kain more than she did. After a few wonderful dates, Lightning eventually did become Kain's girlfriend and it was great for both of them and Caius even left the two alone (he didn't really care that much to begin with).

"We're watching Forrest Gump and that's final!" Vaan cried. "No one even wants to watch Audition anyway!" Vaan opened up the DVD case.

"I don't think so! We're not watching the same thing like last time!" Lightning yelled as she swiped the DVD case out of Vaan's hands.

That little action earned Lightning a death glare from Vaan. "That's not going to work on me, Vaan and you know it."

"Yeah, whatever, but we're still not watching Audition." Vaan retorted.

"I don't think so!" Lightning snapped, as she quickly opened up the DVD case, took the cd out and popped it into the DVD player.

She slapped Vaan's hand every time he would try to eject the DVD. Everyone felt defeated, including Vaan. They were all forced to watch a horror movie. Cloud, Tifa, and Serah all knew they were going get nightmares just like last time. Snow didn't care so much and all he could think about was Serah and that if she ever got scared, she could just go into his arms and be safe. Lightning took her spot next to Kain on the couch and Vaan took his on the floor, on the other side away from Snow and Serah.

Lightning seized the moment when the movie was slowly beginning to talk to Tifa, "Don't you just love horror movies?"

Tifa looked at Lightning, rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to the movie. This movie wasn't going to end well and she could feel it in her guts.

* * *

It was an hour into the movie and Serah was already in Snow's arms, hiding her face from the gore and Snow tightened his grip on Serah. Tifa and Cloud stared at the movie in horror, finding it unable to look away no matter how hard they tried to. Kain would look at Lightning ever so often and would be amazed to see how … unaffected she seemed, at least, well compared to Vaan. Vaan brought his knees up and was hugging them tightly (and Kain could hear Vaan muttering, 'I'm not scared' over and over again). Lightning, on the other hand was far from unaffected. She was disgusted, yes and was trying not to show it as hard as she could.

By the time the main female character was tying a wire saw around the man's foot, Vaan was the first one to yell, "Shit!" when the foot was dismembered from the man's leg and the blood began creating a mess on the bedroom floor. The woman was clearly enjoying the torture she was inflicting on the man. Serah let out a small scream the foot came was sawed off and Tifa continued to watch with Cloud. Lightning blinked for that one moment and missed the entire part.

Lightning saw Vaan hugging his knees and was still muttering "I'm not scared, I'm not scared." Lightning looked at Vaan in amusement.

'_Should I be nice and leave him alone? Or should I be mean and scare him?_' Lightning thought. She stood behind Vaan for a second. '_Nah, I'll just scare him._' Lightning bent down to Vaan's level and moved her face close to his ear. "Boo!" she whispered.

Vaan jumped and knocked his head against the sofa and let out a loud, "Fuck!"

Lightning began laughing and the others turned to her and Vaan, glad for the fact that they had a slight distraction from the movie.

"What was that for, Light?!" Vaan asked.

Lightning kicked Vaan's foot, "Just for laughs." She then walked back to her spot on the couch next to Kain.

Vaan sighed and leaned back into the pillow behind him and continued to watch the movie. And by the time the movie was over, Vaan, Serah, Snow, Tifa, Cloud, Kain and Lightning were all disturbed by the events in the movie. Lightning stood up and turned on the lights and none of them spoke a word.

Vaan broke the silence between the seven of them. "We are never watching a horror movie that you picked out ever again." He told Lightning.

"You're just saying that because you were scared." She retorted.

"I was not!" he yelled. "Everyone agrees too, don't you?"

The others nodded and they all stared at Lightning. She gave up at that point.

"You guys are all babies!" She said.

"No we're not and you know it!" Vaan retorted.

Lightning was about to speak until Cloud opened his mouth to change the subject, "Guys, Tifa and I have news for all of you."

Everyone turned to face Cloud and Tifa. The two looked at each other and Tifa let out a loud sigh. "Okay everyone. The big news is… I'm pregnant." She laughed quietly.

Not a word was spoken for an excruciatingly long five seconds. Serah smiled and stood up to face Tifa. "That's wonderful, Tifa, congratulations!"

After Serah spoke and stood up, everyone began to gather around Tifa and continued to tell Tifa and Cloud congratulations.

* * *

Vaan couldn't help but get nightmares from the movie even if it was the Monday of that next week. Even at the café, he couldn't help but be reminded of the woman who maimed the man. It was unfortunate that he would be paranoid of all the customers and Balthier would have to be the one to snap Vaan back into reality. By the time the twentieth customer left, Balthier was getting frustrated and annoyed with Vaan's paranoia.

"Okay, spill it. What's wrong with you?" Balthier asked.

Vaan jumped and turned around sharply to face Balthier. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Balthier looked down and sighed, "Why are you so paranoid?"

"It's… it's a long story."

"Doesn't matter, just explain."

"Fine, my sister decided to make all of us watch this horror movie called Audition last Friday. The woman in the movie kept maiming people because there was something psychologically wrong with her and basically she harmed her boyfriend and her boyfriend's teenage son." Vaan explained, making motions with his hands.

"So you're afraid of seeing a woman who has psychological problems enter the café and… hurt you?" Balthier asked.

"No, I'm afraid of seeing the woman in the movie near me. It didn't help when my sister scared me either." Vaan said, rolling his eyes when he remembered Lightning coming up behind him and frightening him during the movie.

"Right…" Balthier began, while he ran his hand through his russet colored hair, "Anyway, the chance of that happening is extremely low. So forget about it and get back to work."

'_Is he trying to comfort me? How… cute._' Vaan thought, as Balthier ran his hand through his hair. '_Wait, what?!_ _I did not just think that… especially towards him of all people. Nope, didn't. I didn't think that at all. Nope, not at all._' Vaan sighed loudly, feeling defeated.

"Is work all that you care about, honestly? Can't you take a break for once?" Vaan asked. '_Nice save Vaan… real nice._' He thought, sarcastically.

"There is this thing called a lunch break, Vaan. I suggest you look up the term." Balthier retorted.

Vaan groaned in annoyance. "I know what a lunch break is, genius. I'm asking if you're the type of person who's a workaholic."

"Then why didn't you say that in the first place?"

"Forget about that! Just answer my question!"

"Think of it this way, Vaan. Getting work done means getting paid. Getting paid means spending it on things you want- need. It also means getting experience."

"But that doesn't answer my question."

"Think about it, Vaan. Let me know when you decide your priorities straightened out." Balthier replied, giving Vaan a wink.

'_No Vaan, you will not blush. Just turn away! Just turn away!_' he thought. His thoughts didn't heed the unwilling blush that rose. Vaan turned away quickly. "Yeah, whatever." He muttered.

"I'm assuming that's a yes, then?" Balthier asked.

"Sh-shut up! Get back to work!"

Balthier laughed, "I never thought I'd actually hear that from you of all people."

"Then you clearly don't know me well enough."

"I guess I should get to know you better, then."

Vaan sputtered, "Get back to work!"

"I'd love to, but I'm on my break right now." Balthier replied smugly.

Vaan made another noise of aggravation. '_Of all the people I could have as a coworker, I just had to be stuck with – with an annoying, smug, good looking- no stop it, Vaan! Fucking bastard… thinks he's so smug and everything._'

A customer walked in and impatiently waited to get an order in while Vaan was internally raging over the annoyance that was Balthier (who at that point was relaxing). '_I hate him. He's a jerk. He's annoying. Yeah… that's right. Why is he looking at me like that?_'

Balthier looked at Vaan and tried to tell him that there was a customer in front of him, waiting for an order. It took Vaan a moment to actually realize that the female customer was staring at Vaan in annoyance while he was stuck in his thoughts. He laughed nervously and the woman sighed impatiently. "C-can I take your order?" he asked.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'd like one croissant and a medium caramel coffee."

Vaan rung up and filled the order and he sighed once the woman left as he leaned against the front counter. "I'm so tired."

"For what, barely getting any work done?" Balthier quipped.

Vaan glared at Balthier, "No, for lack of sleep because of Asami!"

"You couldn't have phrased that in a better way, could you Vaan?" Balthier couldn't fight the chuckle that rose in his throat.

Vaan didn't bother answering and moved to clean the counter instead. Vaan could distinctly hear Balthier's stupid, annoying, pompous, ridiculous chuckle.

* * *

"I just don't get it! What is it about me that makes Balthier want to annoy me so much?!" Vaan asked, exasperated. He ranted as Lightning ran around in the apartment, trying to get herself ready to go to 7th Heaven.

"I don't know- maybe it's because you make it really easy for him to make fun of you." Lightning responded.

"That's not true; I do not make it really easy! It's his fault for picking up on the things that I do."

"I really don't know what to tell you other than to grin and bear it."

"But that's the thing… I don't want to grin and bear it. I don't even know what I want… other than for him to stop pissing me off!"

Lightning paused for a second and stared at him. "God, Vaan… you sound like some insecure girlfriend. Calm down it's not _that_ bad. At least he tolerates you instead of hating you like he did in the beginning."

Vaan looked at her in outrage. "What? I do not sound like an insecure girlfriend! I can't believe you'd even say that!"

"It's not my fault you sound like one." She shrugged and went on to making herself presentable.

"I do not! Think of it this way Light- it's like how Kain used to make you annoyed before you two started going out."

"That's a terrible analogy, Vaan. You should brush up on them."

"Great, even you're ganging up on me. This isn't fair!"

"Yeah well, life isn't fair."

"Don't remind me." Vaan sighed.

Lightning smoothed out the black pencil skirt and picked up her purse. "Alright, I'm going. Don't do anything drastic while I'm gone. I'll be home in a couple of hours- probably around eleven."

"Yeah, yeah I know." Vaan scratched the back of his head. "See you later."

"Bye, Vaan." With that said Lightning put on her black heels, opened the door, left the apartment and locked it.

Vaan sighed and leaned further back into the couch. He still could not believe that Lightning called him an insecure girlfriend. He was not an insecure girlfriend! He was a man who could not believe how annoying someone (that wasn't Snow) could be! To top it all off, Lightning didn't even care! The nerve of that woman, ignoring him, not listening to what he was saying and offering him advice. Lightning was being awfully rude and short with him and Vaan had to know what was going on.

'_Let's not forget the fact that she's always running off after dinner too…_' he thought. '_Or the fact that she never mentioned what she does after dinner. Why is she being so mysterious anyway? She usually says where she's going._' Vaan sat up straighter against the couch. '_Wait… is she cheating on Kain or something? That would explain why she's running off and being so cryptic every time she leaves after dinner…_' Vaan stood up and grabbed his coat. '_I should follow her and see what she's up to! Dammit Lightning, I knew you were bad at dating, but I didn't think you would be this bad!_' Vaan slipped on his coat quickly as possible, quickly put on his sneakers, grabbed his keys, and then locked the door once he stepped out of the apartment.

Vaan ran down the hall until he came up to the elevator and waited for it. '_Maybe I'll still be able to catch Lightning. She couldn't have gotten that far… unless she was taking the car. Did she even take the car keys?_' He tapped his foot impatiently for the elevator to arrive and when it did, Vaan stepped in, finding it empty and quickly pressed the buttons to close the doors and to head down to the lobby. Once he finally arrived at the lobby, he dashed outside the apartment building and found Lightning's shiny and clean car leaving the corner of the street. '_Oh damn, I'm gonna lose her!_' Vaan began to jog and continued to follow the car, trying to keep it in sight as much as he could. He was confused however, when Lightning reached 7th Heaven. '_Why would she go to Tifa's bar out of all places…? But how am I going to get in… Wait I could just pretend to be making a delivery… right?_' Shaking his head, Vaan snuck into the bar, glad that it was overly crowded at that time. It took him a while to catch his breath. He looked around, wondering where Lightning went. Vaan could easily see Tifa talking with a few people and she looked too busy to notice him. The other workers didn't seem to care as they walked around filling orders and carrying drinks and food. He walked around, making sure that he wasn't too close to the bright lights.

Vaan stood there for a moment, looking around the area. He wondered how in the world he was going to find Lighting in all the hustle and bustle. His thoughts were interrupted however, when a customer that was sitting down near him. She cleared her throat and brushed away her shiny brown hair. She called out to Vaan, wondering if he was going to take her order.

"Excuse me, sir?" the woman asked. She batted her mascara caked eyelashes at him.

Vaan turned to her, surprised. "Y-yes?"

She looked at him and continued speaking in an overly sweet voice, "Aren't you going to take my order?"

Vaan said nothing for a moment. It was at this point that he forgot that he did not change out of his work clothes and his uniform looked awfully similar to the uniform that Tifa made the waiters wear. He gulped_. If I don't take her order, then they'll find out I'm here. But if I do take it… other people are going to ask me to take their order and I won't be able to find out... Guess I have no choice…_ Vaan sighed quietly. _Maybe the universe wants me to work in the food business. _Vaan thought, unhappily.

"Um, yes… What would you like?" he asked. _I'm so screwed, aren't I?_

"Right, I would like a piña colada."

"Would you like anything else?" he questioned.

The woman shook her head and declined and Vaan moved away from her. He looked around the bar area and walked around. A lone waiter carried an empty plate and sighed quietly, looking at the floor. The waiter yawned, the sound of his voice drowned out by the sound of the music and the chit chatter of the patrons. Vaan turned his head and his feet continued to walk in the same direction and inevitable knocked into the waiter. The waiter almost fell and Vaan quickly grabbed the man's arm, trying to help the other man steady himself.

"Sorry about that." Vaan spoke up, laughing nervously.

The waiter stared at Vaan for a good moment and Vaan almost shrank from the man's gaze. The man perked up suddenly and grinned at Vaan.

"Hey, it's no biggie! You must be new here! I mean, I haven't seen you here before and I've been working here for a year!" the waiter said.

Vaan smiled back, "Yeah, yeah I'm new here. I … just started working here!" Vaan thought for a moment. Maybe he could ask the waiter where Lightning was… or something like that.

"That makes sense! But… you look like you're seventeen. You can't be here if you are!"

Vaan gulped. There had to be something he could do! He had to get out of this situation somehow. "You just had to go and say that didn't you?" he asked, bewildered.

The waiter stared at Vaan in shock. "W-what?"

"Don't you understand?! I'm- I'm thirty one!"

"How are you thirty one?!"

"I was born with this face! I can't help the way I look! I was born with a baby face!" Vaan cried out, dramatically.

"But-"

"I cannot believe what I am hearing! My family is cursed with this too and I'm the only one that gets picked on for how I look. This is just unbelievable!" Vaan continued. He buried his face in his hands and shook his shoulders for effect.

The waiter could only feel terrible for Vaan's plight. He rested a hand on Vaan's shoulder. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you!" he let go of Vaan's shoulder. "If there's anything you need, you can let me know!"

Vaan looked up and slowly brought his arms back down to his side. "Sorry- it's okay. It's something that I don't like being mentioned." He swallowed his saliva. _Oh thank God that this man is so gullible_. He thought. "Actually… there is one thing."

The waiter looked at Vaan expectantly.

"Did you happen to see a pink-haired woman here?" Vaan asked.

"Yeah, she's working in the back rooms. Wait- how do you know her?"

"She's my …" _Quick Vaan, think of something! _"She's my sister's fiancé's sister-in-law." _Oh real smooth._ He thought sarcastically.

"Oh, okay! The back rooms are over there." The waiter replied. He pointed towards a door that was left ajar.

"Thanks! I really appreciate it!" Vaan grinned happily and he walked towards the direction that the waiter pointed out.

There was a door that led to the back of the bar and it was left open. Vaan peered at the scene inside before walking towards the door and into the back. He couldn't bring himself to even walk towards the backrooms when he saw a certain blond taking off articles of clothing and a certain pink haired woman carrying trays of drinks and taking quick glances at the blond. Vaan couldn't believe his eyes and almost wished he never followed Lightning to the bar. He stood in his spot, frozen in shock at the scene and tried his best to get away. His attempt to leave however, was foiled by a particular pink haired woman walking back to the bar area with an empty tray. She stared at Vaan in utter shock and disbelief for a moment before storming up to him. Once she stood before him, Vaan gulped.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" She shouted.

Vaan willed himself to say something as he tried to recover from his shock. "I uh…" he managed to spit out.

"Well? Give me an explanation." Lightning urged. She glared at him and put her free hand on her hip.

Vaan swallowed his saliva as he looked at Lightning's anger filled face. "Well, see the thing is I… was delivering something for Squall!"

Lightning looked at him in irritation. "Squall doesn't even work today! What's the real reason you're here?!"

Vaan wasn't sure how he was going to explain the situation to Lightning without sounding like an imbecile. "It's… a really complicated story and I would rather not get into that right now." He managed to say.

"Vaan…" Lightning warned. "Spit it out, **now**."

He really didn't want to do this. "Okay, see the thing is I thought you were cheating on Kain so I thought that I could you know… find out where you were going."

Lightning stared at Vaan in disbelief. "You thought I was cheating on Kain?! Why the hell would I do that?"

"I thought that you were going to make him one of your usual one night stands or something!"

Lightning couldn't find the words to respond to that and Tifa took that moment to step in and question Lightning as to why she wasn't bringing the drinks to the backrooms.

"Light, what's going on? I'm hearing people are complaining that they aren't- what's Vaan doing here?" Tifa asked. She looked over at Vaan in confusion. "He shouldn't even be here! How did he even get inside?"

Lightning turned to Tifa, exasperated. "It doesn't matter! I know he shouldn't be here!"

"Then he needs to leave now." Tifa replied, annoyed.

Lightning sighed, "Vaan, I don't even know what to tell you right now. All I want to know is, are you crazy?! I can't believe you followed me here! What actually made you think I'd cheat on my boyfriend?"

Vaan didn't know how to answer that in all honesty. "I- I refuse to speak about that unless in the presence of my lawyer!"

"Yeah well, your lawyer is present now so speak up." Lightning replied.

"Then… then I request for a different attorney. " Vaan retorted.

Lightning frowned, irritation still written clear on her face. "Request denied. Now tell me what's going on."

"Can I at least make a defense?" he asked.

"Why are you being so difficult?" Lightning asked. "Seriously Vaan, you are being beyond ridiculous. I can't believe you would actually think that I would cheat on my boyfriend and on that note; I can't believe you don't even think I can even have a healthy relationship! Why are you acting like such an idiot?"

"Hey! In my defense, I did not know you were dating a stripper!"

"That is by far one of the worst defenses that you, of all people can come up with." Lightning supplied.

"Guys, it doesn't matter!" Tifa sighed. "Vaan needs to leave **now**."

Lightning took a quick glance at Tifa and then turned back to Vaan. "Vaan, you're going home and you are never to mention this incident to anyone. Is that understood?"

Vaan sighed and said nothing for a moment. He swallowed his saliva again and looked at Lightning. "You never told me what you're doing here serving drinks."

Lightning took in a deep breath. "I don't have to answer that."

"Why not?" Vaan asked.

"Because… I plead the fifth, that's why."

"Oh, come on Lightning! Just tell me why you're serving drinks!" Vaan said.

Tifa broke in, "It's because I told her that in order to pay off the dishes and tables she damaged, she had to work here for some time to pay it off."

Vaan looked at Lightning incredulously once he heard what Tifa had spoken. "So you're telling me that you're working here because you broke Tifa's stuff to pay it off?" he asked, annoyance clear in his voice.

Lighting didn't answer for a second. "Yes… It's not like I had a choice. Tifa forced me to do this, okay? That's why I was so angry when I came home that day."

"Is that why you told me to get a job when I broke those statues?!"

Lightning chose not to answer that.

Tifa couldn't fight the smirk that appeared on her lips, "So you took your anger out on Vaan because of what I did? I guess I'm a bigger influence than I thought!" she laughed a bit.

Lightning and Vaan both glared at Tifa. "Anyway- Vaan you are leaving the bar this instant. You're going with Laguna." Lightning turned to Tifa, "Where's Laguna right now?"

Tifa glanced at the bar, seeing Laguna staring at his glass of ice water. He didn't look too happy with the glass of water. "He's at the bar. Hold on, I'll go get him." Tifa strode up to the older man and after a brief conversation; she led him back to where Lightning and Vaan stood.

"I still wanted that scotch, Tifa." Laguna complained.

"You knew you were never going to get it." Tifa replied.

"Hey you two," Lightning interrupted, "sorry to just break in, but Vaan needs to go back home. Laguna, could you drive him back to the apartment? You don't mind, do you?"

Laguna placed a small smile on his face, "No, it's not a problem. Come on Vaan, let's go!" He slung an arm over Vaan's shoulder. Vaan rolled his eyes.

Vaan looked at Lightning, "Can't you just drop me off? Laguna is gonna drive around for hours getting us lost!"

Laguna looked indignant at Vaan's comment. "That's ridiculous, Vaan! I don't do that."

Vaan glared at Laguna, "Last time you drove us, you made us late to this party by three hours and the whole time you were going around in circles the whole time. Even Squall was annoyed!"

"Squall is always annoyed, though." Laguna replied.

"That's not the point!"

Lightning and Tifa glanced at each other. Lightning spoke up first, "Laguna will you just take Vaan and go?"

"Yeah, yeah alright… Let's go Vaan." Laguna turned around and began to leave the bar, with Vaan in tow (who looked back at Lightning, annoyed and to which he got a smirk in return).

* * *

"Laguna, you've been driving around in the same area for two hours now. Could you please invest in a GPS?" Vaan complained, his head resting on his hand. His elbow leaned against the arm rest of the passenger seat. Vaan looked out the window; bored as his uncle drove around the block for what could have been the hundredth time they passed by.

Laguna turned to Vaan for a second before turning his attention back to the road. "Vaan, don't be ridiculous!" Laguna turned a corner. "I of all people do not need a GPS. The only one who does is Lightning… and maybe you."

"Me?! Why would I need one when Lightning is the one that drives the most? Besides, she won't even let me touch her car?" Vaan asked. He sighed, "Forget it Laguna."

"Besides Vaan, can't I hang out my favorite nephew?"

"You can, yeah; I have no problem with that." Vaan sighed. "It's just that we're been going around this block for so long."

He continued to stare outside the window, wanting to get out of the car already. Building after building passed by and Laguna eventually stopped at a stop sign. Laguna was going on about something- Vaan wasn't listening, he was too busy looking out the window, watching the people walking on the street. He noticed someone coming down the steps with a familiar head of copper hair and dark eyes. Vaan stared at that familiar person and noticed the annoyed look on the person's face and one other person came downstairs with the same annoyed look. The two spoke for a second and then the two departed ways, while the copper haired fellow made his way towards the car that Vaan was in. Vaan glanced at Laguna and almost sighed in relief when the older man was not paying attention to Vaan at all.

Vaan slowly unbuckled the seat belt as quietly as he could. He took another glance at Laguna; still not paying attention. Vaan swallowed his saliva and just as quietly, he pulled the door handle and once the door opened up, Vaan stepped outside, slammed the door and quickly ran behind the copper haired man. He saw Laguna turn to the passenger seat in surprise and was shocked to see that the seat was empty. Vaan was still behind the copper haired man (who was currently trying to turn around but was prevented by Vaan), peeked behind the man and waved to Laguna, who saw Vaan waving and stared back at the boy in disbelief. Laguna jumped in his seat when the cars behind him began honking. Sighing, Laguna went on without Vaan (who was sighing in relief).

"Vaan, what the hell are you doing?!" the copper haired man yelled, once he was let go.

"You blew my cover, Balthier! Thanks a lot!" Vaan replied.

"_I_ blew your cover? What are you even talking about? And why were you circling my apartment at such a high speed for the past three hours?!"

"I'll explain later." Vaan replied, offhandedly.

"No, you'll explain now."

"Can't- I gotta get back home… no wait I can't go back home. She'll still be mad at me." Vaan mumbled.

"Who and what are you talking about?" Balthier asked, crossing his arms.

"Oh come on! I'll explain everything later!"

Balthier sighed, "Look, just tell me now to get it over with and I'll leave you alone."

Vaan rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, defeated. "Fine, I'll tell you. But first I wanna get coffee."

Balthier said nothing. Vaan gave him a big grin.

"Fine." Balthier replied.

* * *

Vaan sat down in a wooden chair and placed his cup of caramel coffee and his croissant on the small round table. Balthier even bought his own cup of hazelnut coffee and once he sat down, he leaned back against the wooden chair and sipped a bit of the coffee. Balthier wasn't surprised to see that the coffee shop was almost empty- save for the few that were using their computers or reading. Vaan had taken a bite of the butter croissant and once he swallowed, he took off his coat and placed in on the back of his chair. Balthier spotted the brown loveseat and was a bit (or maybe a lot) disappointed that the couch was already taken by a few people already. Well, he supposed he could live without sitting on the comfortable looking couch. He turned his attention back to Vaan, who had taken another bite of his croissant and was chewing happily.

"Okay, I guess you're done delaying now. Explain everything from beginning to end." Balthier said, taking a sip of the hot coffee.

Vaan swallowed and took a gulp of his caramel flavored coffee. "It's a long story."

Balthier fought an urge to roll his eyes at the younger male. "You already delayed the explanation for a long time. You should be lucky I'm patient."

"Yeah… that's true. You're a lot more patient than my older sister." Vaan replied, thoughtfully. He couldn't go back home and see Lightning… at least not yet.

"Your older sister?" Balthier asked.

"Yeah… she's kind of the reason why everything happened today. Don't you have any siblings?"

"So because of her, you managed to circle my apartment in a car for over an hour and caused my neighbors and me to go outside in the cold? I'm an only child."

Vaan scratched the back of his head. "Um, sort of?"

Balthier raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay! So the whole story is that I kind of followed her to see what she was up to." Vaan replied, hastily.

"…You followed her because you were suspicious and you couldn't ask her upfront?"

"I wanted to do that! But she left before I could even ask her. Besides, we talking about something else and I forgot about it. Anyway, you're an only child?"

Balthier sighed, "Really, Vaan? So you had to resort to stalking her just so you could see what she was up to? Did you even have a good reason? Yes- I am an only child!" he sighed in exasperation. Balthier took a sip of his coffee, which had cooled down and was warm enough to make Balthier not as cold.

"Of course I had a good reason! I- I thought she was cheating on her boyfriend." Vaan mumbled. He quickly took a bite of his croissant, which was half eaten. He took another bite. "Wasn't it boring by yourself though?"

Balthier stared at Vaan incredulously. "You thought-", he sighed, "You thought that she was cheating on her boyfriend and you decided to follow her. You do realize how-"

Vaan cut him off, "I know, I know! You don't need to tell me. Anyway, when I found where she was going and… it kind of happened to be a bar…"

Balthier almost pinched the bridge of his nose. "First of all, don't interrupt me." He said. Vaan swallowed his croissant piece. "And second, how did you even get in? And third, no I didn't. I had everything I wanted."

"Sorry…" Vaan mumbled. "I kind of… snuck in? It was crowded and no one could really see me!" Vaan paused for a moment. "You had everything you wanted? That sounds great."

Balthier stared at Vaan for a good moment. He couldn't believe how ridiculous Vaan's story was sounding. Sure, it sounded interesting (but what Vaan was beyond stupid, honestly) but Balthier was amazed at the amount of nonsense. To top it all off, since when was Vaan so interested in his life? He sighed and motioned to Vaan that he should continue with the story.

"Right, so I snuck in… and then I found that she wasn't cheating at all and she made… my relative drive me back. But he's really bad with directions and he was the one driving and I couldn't do anything about it… except maybe bump into you." Vaan laughed nervously. He looked down at his finished croissant and his cup of coffee. He took another gulp.

Balthier fought a chuckle. "Does that mean that you're bad with directions too?" he asked.

Vaan looked back at Balthier, surprised. "No way- I have a great sense of direction!"

"Really? Is that why you lead us back and forth between two streets?"

Vaan said nothing and looked down at the cup. Balthier could easily see that the younger man was red. Even his ears were a bit red!

Balthier didn't fight the chuckle and it escaped his mouth.

"W-what's so funny?!" Vaan asked when he looked up. Balthier could see Vaan's red cheeks more prominently when he looked up.

"Nothing, nothing. What was with all those questions?"

"What- you know it's not nothing! Come on, tell me."

"I'm not going to tell you unless you tell me why you were asking those questions."

"Because I was curious!" Vaan replied, hastily. "What was so funny?"

"It was just funny how you said that your relative was bad with directions and you were not. You know as well I do now- that you're not that great with directions."

Vaan said nothing and simply drank the last of his coffee. He put the empty cup back down on the round table.

"What- you're not going to say something back?" Balthier asked. He drank the last few drops of his coffee and looked at Vaan. "You're done with your coffee?"

Vaan nodded and he folded up the wax paper that held the croissant crumbs. Balthier watched Vaan, intrigued over the fact that Vaan was folding the wax paper instead of just crumpling the paper up like he expected of Vaan. That was surprisingly neat of the boy. Balthier raised an eyebrow. "You… fold up your garbage like that?"

The platinum blond licked his lips (which Balthier's eyes did _not _glance at). "Um… yeah I do. It makes stuff neater that way. Anyway, let's get going. I should go back now."

Vaan stood up, put on his coat and waited for Balthier. Balthier said nothing and simply accepted Vaan's answer. He stood up, put his own jacket back on and the two walked back towards the entrance of the café, threw the cups and the folded wax paper out and they headed back into the chilly night. Balthier recalled that it was already a bit late. He put his hands in his coat pocket and Vaan had done the same thing. Minutes passed and the silence between them began to feel awkward.

Vaan, who wasn't able to take the silence anymore, broke it. "So… you didn't answer me before. You had everything you wanted, right?"

Balthier glanced at Vaan. "Yes… why do you ask?"

"Is it a crime to be curious?"

"Of course it's not! If that was the case, then I'd be guilty as well."

"Yeah, but curiosity killed the cat, didn't it?"

"I should be telling you that- not the other way around." Balthier laughed.

"Hey!" Vaan replied, pretending to be offended. But he joined Balthier in laughing.

* * *

"Okay- so what if you were stuck on an island and you could have any three things to have on that island, what would they be?" Vaan asked.

"Am I allowed to have a person as one of those three things?" Balthier questioned.

"Yeah, it doesn't matter."

Balthier thought for a moment. "Maybe some matches or a lighter, a map and shovel."

Vaan paused for a second. "Why would you need a shovel?"

"Because the map is actually a treasure map and the shovel is for digging it up."

Vaan laughed, "Seriously?"

"There wouldn't be any other reason why I would be on that island except look for some treasure."

"Yeah but what if you were on the wrong island and the map didn't work?"

"Come on, Vaan. Let's be real here- you would want treasure too. Besides, the situation isn't real. Can't a man dream?"

"Of course you can dream! I'm actually surprised you didn't mention a person, though." Vaan said.

"You are?"

"Yeah, I expected you to say that you would have your girlfriend or something on the island with you."

Balthier looked at Vaan strangely, "I would, but I'm not even dating anyone."

He stopped walking when they finally reached Vaan's home. Balthier stopped as well and was amazed that Vaan lived in a pretty nice area (presumably with his sister). "So this is where you live, huh?" he asked, offhandedly.

Vaan grinned up at Balthier, "Yup." He looked down for a second before looking up. "Right, um I… guess I'll see you at the café."

Balthier smiled at Vaan. "Yeah, yeah."

Vaan bit his lip and looked down at his sneakers again. "Um… Balthier?" he asked. Vaan appeared to be nervous.

The copper haired man looked at Vaan, "Yeah?"

Balthier waited patiently for Vaan to say what he wanted to say.

"Um… I guess what I really want to say is um, that I… um… I-I really like you!" Vaan blurted out quickly.

Balthier said nothing for a second. "Vaan…" He noticed Vaan looked a little red under the glare of the streetlamp.

"Wait! It's okay. I mean, it's okay if you don't really feel that way or anything. I just really wanted to tell you." Vaan laughed nervously.

Balthier opened his mouth to speak, but Vaan cut him to the chase. "It's okay, really! I know it's really sudden and everything-"

"Vaan, I-"

"I mean, we can always be friends, you know? You probably don't feel the same way. And-"

"Vaan, will you let me speak?!" Balthier interrupted.

"Sorry…" Vaan closed his mouth and looked up at Balthier.

"It's okay. Vaan, first of all- don't start assuming. You'll only make an ass out of yourself. Second- what makes you think that I _don't _like you?" Balthier asked.

Vaan stared at Balthier, confused. "W-what?"

Balthier sighed, "I'm not going to repeat myself, Vaan." he looked away and Vaan stared at the older man, surprised.

It took a moment for Vaan to realize what the older man said. "You mean you…"

Balthier glanced at Vaan and gave him a look. Vaan looked at Balthier, surprised and started to laugh nervously.

"What's so funny?" Balthier questioned the younger boy.

"Nothing, nothing… it's just that I thought you didn't like me at all." Vaan replied, quietly.

"What made you think that?"

"Because… because you kept making fun of me and everything." Vaan scratched the back of his head.

"That was only because you made it easy and it was funny." Balthier said bluntly.

Vaan said nothing and looked down, a pink coloration spreading on his face. Balthier smiled at Vaan, yet their little moment was interrupted when Vaan's cell phone began to ring loudly. Worst part was (to Vaan) that it was specifically Lightning's ringtone and Vaan knew that he was in big trouble. Vaan ignored the call for a second.

"I should- I should go. My sisters are probably waiting for me." Vaan laughed.

Balthier chuckled, "Alright, best not keep your sisters waiting then. I'll see you at the café, yeah?"

Vaan nodded, "Yeah."

The two separated their ways and once Vaan was inside the living room, Lightning and Serah were sitting on the couch.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" Lightning asked.

Serah smiled at Vaan. "You're late! Where were you?" she asked.

Vaan said nothing and simply blushed. He looked down at the floor for a second. He didn't want to talk about what happened, at least not yet. Vaan had to change the topic. "Hey, aren't we supposed to be planning the Halloween party by now?"

"Don't change the subject!" Lightning said.

"But… he's right. We haven't started planning yet and it's an annual tradition of ours." Serah interjected.

Vaan went along with it, "Yeah… and besides, Lightning, you mentioned that you wanted to invite Kain." _Maybe I should invite Balthier! _He thought.

"Alright, alright! We'll talk about this tomorrow! Let's just all go to sleep, okay?" Lightning asked.

Vaan was more than happy to oblige.


End file.
